Installation of a modular photovoltaic array field with low balance-of-system costs
A modular building block design was developed, in the preceding phase of this project, which significantly reduces the balance-of-system (BOS) and site-specific design costs associated with the installation of ground-mounted flat-panel photovoltaic array fields. A test-bed array field, nominally rated at 30 kW and consisting of three of the building blocks, has been installed in Albuquerque, NM, in this phase of the project to evaluate both the cost-effectiveness and the technical attributes of the design. Electrically, the building block is a single source circuit consisting of 164 photovoltaic modules connected as parallel pairs and is rated nominally at 10 kW with a 400 Vdc operating voltage. The structural design uses driven metal stakes and wooden transfer beams as a foundation. The panel assembly, consisting of two modules attached to steel-angle side rails, is lag-bolted to the transfer beam and held at angle by a tubular back strut. The installation was accomplished without significant difficulty and has been demonstrated to function in accordance with the design objectives. The cost of this first-time installation was $134.15 per square meter of array aperture. The cost of a second-time installation of the three-building-block field is estimated to be $78.38/m/sup 2/, including an allocation of $11.97/m/sup 2/ for a fence which was not required in the initial installation but would be needed for more typical sites. Larger fields and a significant continuous volume of construction permit further cost reduction.
- Research Organization:
- Battelle Columbus Labs., OH (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 5225013
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-83-7027; ON: DE84009504
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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