Jun 5 2010
BlueChip Energy™, a provider of complete solar energy solutions for residential, commercial, government and utility applications, today announced it has started stage one of the Rinehart Solar Farm, a 10 MW utility-scale solar PV facility in Central Florida.
The Rinehart Solar Farm project, located in Lake Mary, Fla., will have a total capacity of 10 megawatts (MW) and an annual generation of approximately 15,000,000 kilowatt-hours. This is equivalent to the annual energy use of roughly 1,100 area homes. It will cover a portion of the 380,000 square foot rooftop space and surrounding acreage of BlueChip Energy’s Lake Mary facility.
The solar farm is being built in stages, starting with a roof top plant totaling 120 kilowatts (kW). It will feature 520 monocrystalline 230 Watt panels and two state-of-the-art 60 kW Fronius inverters. The first stage is expected to be completed by July, 2010. Stage two is a roof top plant consisting of 500 kW. Subsequent stages will consist of a third, 1.4 MW rooftop system and 8 MW of ground-based systems.
The company has a power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply Progress Energy Florida with renewable solar power from the Rinehart Solar Farm. As a clean energy project, it will stimulate the local economy by creating an estimated 100 high-paying, high-skilled jobs while building local expertise in solar energy. “We expect the Rinehart Solar Farm to serve as a model in the state of Florida for more large-scale, alternative-energy projects," commented Lawrence Hefler, spokesperson for the company.
Source: http://www.bluechipenergy.org/