NuGen Capital Management starts construction of a 6.76-MWdc rooftop solar power system in the company’s home state of Rhode Island. The project, comprised of over 16,000 solar panels, is being installed by AUI Partners on a 560,000 sq ft warehouse in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Full commercial operation of the project is expected in early 2021.
“The Briggs Solar project is NuGen’s largest solar investment in our home State of Rhode Island and we look forward to many more,” said David Milner, NuGen CEO.
The project, comprised of over 16,000 solar panels, is being installed by AUI Partners on a 560,000 sq ft warehouse in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. NuGen Capital
The project will generate over 7,800,000 kWh annually, equating to the amount required to power 639 average Rhode Island homes.
“The AUI team is excited that NuGen Capital has selected us as their EPC partner for the Briggs Solar project. Over the past 15 years, AUI has worked on more than 3 GW of renewable energy projects across the United States, and Briggs is by far our largest rooftop installation. We are now in full operations mode, and look forward to successfully delivering the project safely, on schedule, and under budget,” said Mario Carbone, partner with AUI Partners.
Bristol, Barrington and the Barrington School District are committed to buy the power generated from the system through a long-term power purchase contract. The system should produce approximately 195,681,096 kWh over the lifetime of the contract period.
“Bristol is looking forward to the completion of the Briggs project which will help the Town continue its commitment to energy saving and renewable energy initiatives,” said Steven Contente, Bristol town administrator.
This installation supports Rhode Island’s accelerated clean energy initiative and Gov. Gina Raimondo’s Executive Order 20-01 outlining the governor’s goal for Rhode Island to be 100% powered by renewable energy by 2030.
“Successful Renewable Energy projects require quality partnerships. The relationship between the men and women of IBEW Local 99, NuGen Capital and AUI Partners are critical to driving Rhode Island closer to the 100% Renewable Energy goal,” said Joe Walsh, business manager for IBEW Local Union 99.
Aaron Rust, Nugen’s director of asset management, added: “We are glad to be working with such strong partners in both AUI Partners and IBEW Local Union 99 to build the largest single rooftop solar project to date in Rhode Island.
News item from NuGen Capital
Another way to look at this is the large manufacturing plant saves maybe 30% on electricity costs a year. For the 639 homes per year power, it would be better to take that average 33.5kWh energy need per home in Rhode Island and put 11.5kWp solar PV array on the roof or on a ground mount system to do the same thing with better efficiency. Put that 11.5kWp system on (half of the homes) in Rhode Island and you would have about 7.1GWh a day average. A large energy storage system would allow self consumption and extended solar PV day into the night time hours.
Just sayin’, distributed solar PV is more efficient when used on the roof of the building that will use the power generated, it is also better to store excess energy where the power is generated.