PHS Field House
The new solar array on the Parkersburg High School Field House will provide about 20% of the energy used in the Field House and about 3% of the power used in the entire Parkersburg High School complex. This system uses 378 Suniva 285 watt panels with a combined output of 107 kilowatts of power. This array is fed into (3) 30 kW SMA inverters, which take the DC power and convert it to AC and synchronize it with the facility’s power at 208 Volts 3 phase.
Unlike our microinverter systems, the panels are arranged in ‘strings’ of 21 panels, which creates a 650 volt DC circuit. These circuits are fed 6 at a time into the inverters, which convert the 650V DC into 480V 3 phase AC. These AC circuits are introduced into the Field House wiring system via a transformer, which matches the voltages.
Monitor PV Power Live
Approx. % Power Gen. 20%
The panels are US Manufactured (ARRA Compliant), the inverters are manufactured in the US and the mounting system, also made in the US, has an interesting story. Back in 2014 Pickering Associates was asked to work with a group called Ecolibrium Solar, which was engaged with TechGrowth Ohio to assist with business investment and market growth. PA provided an engineering package for the manufacture of their flagship product, what they called the EcoFoot 1. The Parkersburg High School installation uses the next generation of ballasted mounting systems, the EcoFoot 2.
This system will produce approximately 118,600 kWH of power for the High School in an average year, which is the equivalent power used by 10.7 average American homes for a year, and will avoid the creation of 132 tons of CO2 per year. This is the equivalent of the amount of CO2 produced by 100 Acres of trees.
This project was designed and supported by Third Sun Solar and installed by Pro1 Electric. Also, thanks to the Wood County Board of Education for their support through this project.
To learn more about the system and see a drone fly over video, check out our PHS Field House page here.
