The inverters were selected and installed by Swinerton Renewable Energy for the recently completed 2MW Black Cap solar facility which is also the largest utility-owned and operated solar energy plant in Oregon. The plant, located near Lakeview, Ore, is operated by PacifiCorp utility for the benefit of its 1.7 million customers in six western states.
Swinerton chose the AE500NX inverter on the basis of Advanced Energy’s track record in utility-scale projects and its customer service.
“Large scale projects like these are helping utilities meet their renewable energy goals at lower costs, and we were sure AE would be the right choice, given its proven success on projects of this size,” said George Hershman, vice president and division manager at Swinerton Renewable Energy. “We have been impressed by the product's built-in features and robust design and AE's customer service has been invaluable. We look forward to working on similar projects with AE in the future.”
The AE500NX inverter has a high-power, transformerless, bipolar design, which reduces balance of system cost (BoS) and increases return on investment (ROI). The inverter allows solar project stakeholders to offer system owners a lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and confidence their PV system will deliver on long-term production goals.
The Black Cap facility was opened on November 9th and provides solar power equal to the annual usage of approximately 400 average customer homes. The project consists of 9,000 panels installed on 20 acres of land, incorporating tracking technology to follow the path of the sun and increase energy harvest throughout the day.
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