Valley Wide Beverage Company
Sunterra Completes Solar Project at Valley Wide Beverage Company
March 2010, Novato, CA
Sunterra Solar Inc of Novato, CA has completed construction of a 381KW roof mounted solar power system at Valley Wide Beverage Company in Fresno, CA.
The 381KW solar power system will eliminate approximately 100% of the estimated usage from the facility meter. The system is estimated to produce approximately 530,000 kwh of clean, green, renewable electricity from a single solar power array that holds approximately 30,000 sq ft of solar panels. The electricity produced from the system eliminates the production of similar amounts of fossil fuel electricity that would normally be produced with a bi-product of greenhouse gases such as 720,000 lbs of CO2 and 231 lbs of deadly NOx. This is also similar to removing 73 full sized automobiles from the road and planting 102 acres of trees.
There system consists of 1905 Suntech 200 watt solar panels mounted on a low profile mounting system on the buildings south facing roof. When the sun is shining the panels produce DC electricity, similar to a car battery but much larger. That electricity is fed through an new dedicated electrical system into the Satcon 375KW inverter located in the building’s environmentally controlled electrical room where it converts the DC electricity into AC electricity at the same voltage as the buildings electrical system. From there the electricity is fed into the building’s main electrical switchboard where it is used instantaneously by the building or sold back to the utility company for a credit.
The system will save the owner approximately $90,000 annually, and with the generous rebates, grants and tax incentives will pay for itself in less than 6 years when considering the typical average energy cost increase of 6.7% per year.
An additional foam roof coating was applied over the existing foam to seal and insulate any penetrations in the roof. The project was designed, developed, and closely managed by Sunterra Solar Inc, along with the supply of materials.
Note:
Customer also performed energy efficient lighting and HVAC upgrades
Completed March 2010 – 381KW DC – Fresno, CA
Solar Panels: Suntech 200 watt
Inverter: Satcon 375KW
Mounting System: Professional Solar Products
Est Annual KWH Production: 530,000
Est Annual Bill Savings: $90,000
Download the PDF Case Study
Click Here to view the live system monitoring.
About Sunterra Solar
Sunterra Solar Inc. is one of North America’s premier commercial solar power contractors. Sunterra designs and constructs turn-key grid-connected solar power systems and structures for commercial, agricultural and government customers. We have a decade of experience in the solar industry building large scale systems. Sunterra designs and builds the system that matches your organization’s needs both technically and financially, and guaranteed to exceed your expectations in long term performance.
In addition to turn-key solar power systems we also design and install automated monitoring and control systems and building energy efficiency measures. Our creative design team has experience engineering difficult builds and has proven ability to design outside of the box.
Sunterra Solar Inc. was founded by solar industry veteran Chris Bunas, who also holds a Solar PV Installers Certification from the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners or NABCEP.
After approximately a decade of experience developing grid-tied solar power projects at another organization, Mr. Bunas felt it was the appropriate time to launch his own solar company to focus on commercial solar power projects with a more direct and efficient business model.
Mr. Bunas was the key factor in the creation, development and operation of the Solar Electric Division as Vice-President at another very well known northern California solar integrator, where he excelled for 7 years building that company’s brand and services. Aside from virtually building the solar electric division from scratch at this company, Mr. Bunas personally designed, developed and managed or oversaw construction of many well known solar plants such as Paramount Farms 1.1MW solar plant, Cline Cellars Winery 412KW solar power plant, Merryvale Vineyards – Starmont 277KW solar power plant, and many others. During his employment, Mr. Bunas designed, developed and managed many great solar installations throughout California.
Over his entire industry tenure, Mr. Bunas has been very involved with local building departments, utility companies and industry associations and assisted in developing regulations for rebates and interconnection of solar power systems. In one case, along with assistance from an environmental consultant, Mr. Bunas helped change a 40 year old law and regulation for some central Ca counties so that large scale solar projects could get built without have to wait for years of red tape.
Prior to landing in the solar power industry in 2000 Mr Bunas, a California native, worked in technology at the VP and Director Level for various fortune 500 companies where he successfully delivered many large scale technical IT solutions.
Mr. Bunas is a proud military veteran of the US Marines during Operation Desert Storm. Mr. Bunas brings all of the leadership experience and core values, like loyalty, honesty and integrity, along with attention to detail and “Outside the Box” can-do attitude taken from the military into Sunterra’s business practices used today.
