Solar FlexRacks Used in 655 kW Project for New Jersey Church and School

GALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY — The latest solar installation to take advantage of the labor- and cost-saving features of the Solar FlexRack will provide 90 percent of the annual electricity demand at a New Jersey regional school and church facility.

The system, which uses 104 Solar FlexRacks to hold nearly 3,000 photovoltaic panels, came online in May at The Church of the Assumption of Galloway, New Jersey. According to Father Michael Matveenko, church pastor, the system “will deliver significant savings on our operational costs, while contributing to church, community and school environmental awareness.”

The ground-mount solar power system will generate a peak of 655 kw of DC power, which will be converted to an estimated 800,000kWHr of AC power annually.

The solar arrays were installed in a previously unusable four-acre site located in a storm water basin next to the facility. Contractor for the project was Calvi Electric Company. Brian Gemberling, an electrical engineer with Calvi and Church of the Assumption Project Manager, said the choice of Solar FlexRack to mount the 2,912 solar modules resulted in significant time and labor savings.

“We had an operator bringing in the racks with an articulating forklift, and with four workers we were able to get 104 Solar FlexRacks unfolded, bolted and mounted in just three days,” says Gemberling. “We had very little squaring to do after the fact. This rack self-squares with minor adjustments.

“We were also able to do the grounding on the rails with one person; this went very smoothly,” Gemberling continued. “And the system tray worked out very well for wire management. We were very pleased with how easily and quickly the Solar FlexRack came together.”

The Solar FlexRack makes significantly accelerated construction times and dramatic savings on labor costs possible for any solar installation — an estimated $500,000+ savings per 10MW project. Thus, when the Solar FlexRack is specified in an RFP, the total bid could be as much as 40 percent lower for construction.