U.S. company Alpha Energy recently completed a massive 1MW elevated grid connect solar power system for a car auction facility in Bordentown, NJ. In effect, it’s a huge carport – to be used by Manheim NJ Auto Auction to prepare, protect and stage vehicles for sale.
According to Alpha Energy, it is the largest continuous solar shade structure in the United States. Covering over 13,000 square meters, the solar farm is equivalent in size to three American NFL football fields.
5,880 170W solar panels are tied in to an electricity meter via 11 separate inverters; ensuring that if a single array needs to be taken offline, 90% of the system will still be producing electricity.
The system will generate more than 1,056,000 kilowatt hours per year, which the company says is enough to power around 114 U.S. homes. This generation represents a carbon emission reduction of nearly 862 tonnes annually; the equivalent to taking 158 cars off the road. The installation generates 52 percent of the energy consumed in the main auction facility
Construction and installation also required 250 tonnes of steel, 183 cubic metres of concrete and over 16 kilometres of wiring.
Other efforts by Manheim to “go green” include solar hot water systems and a water recycling plant at its reconditioning facilities that has reduced the facility’s daily water demand by 60 percent. Manheim has also begun using water-borne paint and new paint mix management process. The process uses less paint by creating only the amount of paint needed for each vehicle, thereby reducing waste and the release of air pollutants by 10 percent or 36 tons.
Manheim’s parent company Cox Enterprises, Inc. aims to further reduce Cox’s total carbon footprint an additional 20 percent by 2017.
