Intersolar North America, the most-attended solar industry exhibition and conference dedicated to the North American market, recently unveiled the finalists for the Intersolar AWARD for solar projects in North America. All finalists will be honored during a special on-site ceremony at Intersolar North America, when the winners will be announced. Additionally, Intersolar, in collaboration with partner the California Solar Energy Industries Association (CALSEIA), will present the second annual Champion of Change award to an individual who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to supporting the development of renewable energy.
The Intersolar AWARD, now in its eighth year, promotes the industry’s power to innovate. Since 2012 The “Solar Projects in North America” category recognizes landmark projects that exemplify a high degree of technological innovation, uniqueness, economic feasibility and benefit to the environment and society. Winners are selected by an independent committee of industry experts and trade press, and are announced each July in San Francisco. The finalists in the category represent a wide array of outstanding installations or products used in a project.
Finalists for the Solar Projects in North America include:
- Eaton’s MGM Resorts International Mandalay Bay Resort and Convention Center Installation (Las Vegas, Nevada). The 6.4 MWp PV installation delivers power to the Las Vegas resort through a competitive power purchase agreement.
- First Solar’s Desert Sunlight Solar Farm (Riverside County, Calif.). The 550 MWp PV power plant is one of the largest in the world, and produces enough electricity to power 160,000 households, making it equivalent in size to conventional power plants. Additionally, the
construction process uncovered areas for improvement that will speed the construction of
future PV power plants. - Outback Power’s GridZero System at the Haliburton Soap Factory (Haliburton, Ontario). This small solar project ensures that the Haliburton Soap Factory has an uninterruptible power
supply. The building’s network is supplied with solar power from an off-grid system. While the generated solar power is not fed into the public grid, the grid ensures a constant supply of electricity in the event of system faults. - Princeton Power Systems’ Brooklyn Army Terminal installation (Brooklyn, N.Y.).
This smart grid system combines a 100 kWp solar installation and a storage device featuring a capacity of 720 kWh with the aim of not only reducing CO2 emissions, but also gathering experience of using large-scale storage systems. - Solaire Generation’s Boston Properties Garage Top Solar Canopy (Boston, Mass.). The solar canopy covers 60,000 square feet on top of a parking garage, eliminating annual snow clearance expenses in addition to generating electricity that can be sold—one of the main reasons why the canopy is so profitable.
- Solaire Generation’s Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Solar Canopy (Edgewater, Md.). This parking garage installation was integrated into an overall energy project that also repurposed rainwater.
- Solar FlexRack’s Palm Springs Unified School District Solar Project (Palm Springs, Calif.). The 638 kWp solar installation is saving significant amounts of money for the school. This money can now be spent for student education, and the PV installation is also used for teaching
purposes. - Solar Frontier’s Catalina Project (Kern County, Calif.). The 82.5 MWp ground-mounted
installation in the Mojave Desert is combined with a wind energy project to produce an
impressive hybrid strategy. - tenKsolar’s Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall Installation (Washington, D.C.). Although installing PV systems on protected buildings is challenging, this project
provided both a static and aesthetic solution. Thanks to the system’s aerodynamic design, which places only a small burden on the roof, PV modules could be installed on a larger area. The north-facing sides of the modules are covered to produce an aesthetically pleasing effect as well as reflect additional light onto the modules.
Intersolar Names Winner of the Champion of Change Award
In close partnership with CALSEIA, Intersolar named three finalists for the second Champion of Change Award. The winner, former California State Assembly member Nancy Skinner, authored AB 510 which greatly expanded California’s net metering law. She was instrumental in the developed SB 2X, which mandated California’s 33 percent renewable portfolio standard; AB 2514 that prioritized energy storage for grid wide and distributed energy applications; and AB 39, which funded solar and energy upgrades for schools. Skinner has long been a solar and renewable energy champion, and has worked on global warming and environmental policy since the late 1980s. Ms. Skinner has recently announced she will seek a seat in the California State Senate in 2016.
The Intersolar AWARD ceremony will be held Tuesday, July 14 at 3:30 PM at the Innovation and Application Stage on the second level of Moscone West. More information about the Intersolar North America exhibition, as well as the finalists, is available online.
