Project Review: Factory Farm From Strata Solar

Frank Andorka, Editorial Director

Lawndale, N.C., is the kind of town that a visitor might miss if he blinked. Located an hour west of Charlotte along the East Stage Coach Trail, Lawndale nestles comfortably into the Appalachian foothills.

Only 611 people live there in 270 houses, all of which need electricity. So when Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Strata Solar and Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy decided to build a 5-MW solar project just across the street in Belwood (population: 962), the people of Lawndale were thrilled.

There was only one small problem: For the project to make financial sense, Strata Solar needed to build the project before the year ended — and it was October before it was even part of the company’s plans.

“The owner came down and asked if we could get this project done by December so we could take advantage of the tax credits,” says John Morrison, COO for Strata Solar. “I said yes. Then I ran down to Steve Kludy [commercial solar and electrical onsite construction manager] and said, ‘How are we going to do this?’”

But do it they did, thanks in large part to strong supply-chain partnerships and a dedicated workforce employing a streamlined construction process.

It’s Definitely Who You Know

At any given time, Strata Solar has four to five projects going on at once. Its specialty is constructing small-scale utility projects like Belwood Farm in under four months. Company executives meet regularly to decide which projects are shovel-ready so they can move on them with speed, as they did in September 2012 to put five projects on the docket for completion by Dec. 31.

“We’re in the business of building modestly sized solar farms, somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 MW per project,” Morrison says. “We build them one after the other in a cookie-cutter fashion.”

In October, the owner asked Morrison and Kludy if they could fit one more project on the schedule so Strata could take advantage of tax breaks.

Part of what made the schedule feasible was the great relationships Strata has with its suppliers. When they first approached companies like Schletter (racking), SMA (inverters) and Canadian Solar and others (panels), most companies were taken aback at the tight timeframe. (For a full list of partners, see sidebar.)

“We’ve made our suppliers aware of how we do business, so they know we often purchase in bulk and in a hurry,” Morrison says. “But we didn’t give them much material lead time on Belwood, and most of them said they didn’t think they’d be able to help us.

“But you know what? All of them managed to work it out,” Morrison says. “It’s those partnerships between manufacturers and installers that make projects like Belwood possible.”

Kyle Petty, technical sales representative for Schletter, concurred.

“Working with Strata Solar was a great opportunity,” Petty said. “I’m pleased to have had the privilege of helping to bring our two companies together in a collaborative effort to provide the best possible solutions to our — and their — customers.”

Racking systems were one thing. Inverters were a whole other matter. Both the size and the complexity of the machinery require more time to put into place. Morrisson breathed a sigh of relief when SMA told him Strata would get the equipment in mid-December — but he was in for a big surprise.

“When SMA told us about the delivery date, we were thrilled,” Morrison says. “So imagine my shock and delight when the inverters showed up on Thanksgiving, three weeks ahead of schedule. I couldn’t have been more pleased.”

Henry Dziuba, president and general manager of SMA America, said his company was proud to embrace the challenge.

“SMA always appreciates the opportunity to work with Strata Solar,” Dziuba says. “We have a strong, long-standing relationship with the company, and our similar world-class processes ensure seamless execution and industry-best solutions for every project and partner.”

Rock Around The Clock

Once Strata secured the hardware, it turned its attention to how its workers would construct the project quickly and efficiently. Inspiration from the process came from two unexpected sources: lean manufacturing and Kludy’s unusual staffing strategy.

Morrison came to Strata Solar from the world of maintaining automotive supply-chains, so he understood the twin concepts of just-in-time delivery and lean production.

Morrison says Strata Solar treats the construction of solar farms like it’s a factory assembly line.

“Henry Ford lives in our projects,” Morrison says. “By thinking of it in manufacturing terms, we move through the build sequence like a wave.

“Each crew has a narrow set of tasks to do, just like the small production cells in a factory,” he continues. “Once they’re done with their narrow set of tasks, there’s a crew right behind them to do the next set of tasks. It’s efficient and quick.”

Kludy, who has worked in construction for 41 years and spent many of them managing fast-tracked electrical projects, knew that managing a crew of nearly 120 (up from a normal crew of between 60 and 70) would be a challenge.

But Morrison’s specialized-crew strategy fit in perfectly with Kludy’s long-standing project management plan, which he says has never let him down.

Take inverter pads — installing one pad usually takes a week. For Belwood, eight had to be installed. Instead of having one crew do all eight, Kludy had eight crews, each focused on installing one. That meant that at the end of a week, all eight pads were constructed and were ready to have the inverters installed on them.

“If you have multiple tasks to complete a project, put a crew on each one,” Kludy says. “Then when they’re done, they’re done.”

With construction running as smoothly as any Toyota assembly line and with workers putting in 7-day weeks (the crews had two days off for Thanksgiving), the project shattered all company records for construction speed, making the plant ready for business in only 41 days. They made the deadline of Dec. 31, making the company’s owner happy.

“I have to brag on our guys for a minute: Our entire team, from our own employees to our valued partners, worked like crazy to get this project done on an insane deadline,” Morrison says. “They came through with flying colors and showed a commitment to the customers that rivals any in the industry.”