School District 61 - Torquay Elementary School

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Energy offset: TBD - Estimated at 15%

Number of panels: 60

System size: 23.4kW

Estimated Annual Production: 24,415kWh

Project Goals: School district 61 wanted a solar demonstration project to showcase the practical employment of solar energy in the community. With schools playing a significant role in the education of our youth, they saw the opportunity to demonstrate environmental leadership.

How it was achieved: We worked with the school district's project management and electrical team to design a solution that would meet the goals of the project and fit within the allocated budget. The installation of a three-phase micro-inverter system allowed for an exceptionally cost effective solution that would seamlessly tie into the schools existing infrastructure. In order to provide the greatest learning opportunity, we installed an advanced energy monitoring system that records and displays the energy production of the solar panels and energy consumption of the school, all in real time. Any class within the district will have access to viewing the information so that this project may be used as a case study for any students from kindergarten to grade 12.

Special considerations: The layout of the solar panels in multiple rows is due to engineering considerations of the building, having been built in 1976 with reduced load bearing requirements. The mounting system for the solar arrays uses a concrete ballast approach to keeping the system on the roof without having any penetration points. The weight of the concrete meant keeping the arrays over the load bearing walls beneath the roof decking. The layout you see is designed to meet the load requirements while maintaining access to the rooftop HVAC equipment for maintenance and repairs.

Other relevant information: With education being a core element of this project, we designed an information board for the school so that staff and students could see and understand what the project was about and what impact it would have on the school and surrounding community.