December 19, 2024
Northern Sun Energy has selected Castillo Engineering to provide design and engineering services for three projects Onyx renewable energy sources solar energy projects in New York and Louisiana.
The projects have a total area of 18 MW and will be completed in the first quarter of 2025. One of the projects has even already been completed. The 5 MW community solar project in Troy, New York, uses fixed tilt racks and was commissioned in late November.
The remaining two projects are located at the Fort Johnson US Army installation (Fort Polk) in Vernon Parish, Louisiana. Each of the co-located 6.5 MW projects in Louisiana will also utilize fixed tilt technology.
“The project has two connection points, but they are on one parcel, so it appears as one large project site,” explains Christopher Castillo, CEO of Castillo Engineering. Construction in Louisiana began in late September and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.
Challenges of the Fort Polk project included the use of new technology.
“The main challenge in this project was researching new equipment and adapting to emerging technology,” said Castillo. “The skid solution, recently launched by CPS, had limited documentation, so the Castillo team worked closely with the manufacturer to answer questions. This collaboration allowed us to create a better and more detailed project design.”
Castillo added that while customer-side reclosing posts are often required for additional protection, a close review of the interconnection documents and confirmation with the utility revealed that this project only required a utility-side reclosing post, which he said slowed the development streamlined and reduced costs. total project costs.
“After our team’s thorough research and analysis resolved these challenges, everything related to the utility and AHJ processes went quite smoothly,” said Castillo.
The Army’s climate goals include transitioning all of its installations to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030. Last year, 45% of the Army base’s electricity was carbon-free. Part of how the Army accomplished this was through the more than 950 renewable energy projects that provide the Army with more than 480 MW of power. The Army also plans to add 25 new microgrids in 2024 alone. The companies’ work on the upcoming 13 MW Fort Johnson Army installation project will contribute significantly to the Army’s climate goals while providing more reliable and secure energy year-round.
Castillo Engineering has worked with the military twice more, installing solar energy at Fort Buchanan in Puerto Rico and Fort Liberty in North Carolina (formerly Fort Bragg).
“This is now our third engineering project with Onyx and Northern Sun, and it has been a fantastic collaboration,” said Castillo. “It is rare for entities to come together and share the same value systems. I’m just looking forward to the future and working with these companies.”
New York has become the top community solar market in the country with an operating capacity of more than 1.8 GW, or double that of the next closest states. The new 5 MW community solar project contributes to the continued growth of community solar in the state and to the state’s goal of generating 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
“Onyx Renewables is a respected and highly customer-focused developer that prioritizes quality in all their processes, and we are pleased to partner with them on this impactful series of projects,” said Chris Balogh, VP at Northern solar energywho acts as EPC on the projects. “We worked closely with Castillo Engineering to complete the 5 MW project in New York on time and on budget and are excited to work with them again on the joint Army base projects in Louisiana.”
Tags: commercial and industrial, utility scale
