Nexamp has successfully completed the construction of three community projects for the community, including the work that is carried out by the electrical utility usually. With the concept, known as self -performance, developers can perform certain network adjustments and infrastructure upgrades to reduce both the time and costs required to reduce their projects with the grid.
Working with Central Maine Power (CMP) in Maine and National Grid in Massachusetts, Nexamp took the responsibility for purchasing the required equipment and carrying out the required construction to complete three recent projects and work faster. Nexamp and his contractors collaborated with engineers and project managers of CMP and National Grid to ensure that these projects were met all technical specifications and requirements.
The first three projects that were part of the Self-Performance Initiative are:
- Hartland Solar, a 1.2 MWDC Sun farm in Hartland, Maine
- Barre Road Solar, a 1.3 MWDC Sun farm in New Braintree, Massachusetts
- Summit Farm Solar, a 2.6 MWDC Sun farm in New Braintree, Massachusetts
“Self-performance enables us to take much more control over the purchasing and construction of the interconnection, so that we can bring projects faster and closer to the budget,” said Daniel Passarello, Chief Advisor Engineer of Grid Integration at Nexamp. “By using our relationships of the building contractor, we can move a lot from the interconnection work parallel to the construction of the solar farm instead of having to treat them as individual processes. This ultimately creates opportunities to reduce the number of mobilizations.”
During self -performance, Nexamp can immediately negotiate prices and delivery times with its suppliers. Passarello said that the company orders many of the same tools for its own facility in bulk, and if an accelerated shipment is needed, the Nexamp can go directly to the supplier.
“The results are greater visibility, control and certainty to stimulate shorter interconnection periods, create opportunities to save costs and reduce the burden on utilities. This type of progressive thinking makes the continuous implementation of clean energy efficient, which leads to lower costs for consumers and elevation, he said.
Utility companies have historically kept responsibility for the construction needed to connect a distributed solar project to the schedule. With the rapid increase in capacity for generating solar energy, sharing part of that work with private developers can be an advantage.
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) estimates that until the end of 2024 almost 8 GW of the community in the United States was installed and that number is expected to almost double in the next five years.
“We have to modernize and streamline the interconnection process to keep pace with the fast -growing demand for energy,” said Sara Birmingham, the VP of the state affairs of Seia. “Self -performance is one of the many innovative approaches that can accelerate project time lines and lower costs, which benefits all Ratepayers. Seia congratulates Nexamp for making this jump and is looking forward to working together on solutions to implement Solar faster, to strengthen the reliability of the grid and the affordability of the grid faster.”
News item from Nexamp
