Page 18 - Q4_2021_Corp Newsletter

ROSENDIN RENEWABLE ENERGY GROUP

“Working between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Riverside County, Indian communities, and CalTrans has (IBEW) to construct the project. And at its busiest, the jobsite
been challenging,” says Lincoln. “We had to get these highly has seen 600 workers per day.
regulatory agencies to all agree to the design while
working with them during the pandemic when many Athos 1 and 2 incorporates 1.48 million First Solar Series
offices were closed.” photovoltaic modules; 18,715 NEXTracker Horizon Single
Axis Trackers; 227,925 foundation piers for the trackers; 7.3
Each of these four entities enforced its own jurisdiction, and miles of 230-kV transmission line; three substations; and
every work area had to be carefully surveyed and mapped one shared switchyard.
before construction crews could go in, says Rick Gonzales,
Rosendin division manager at the Athos site. Gonzales says the overall complexity of the Athos I and II
project led the Rosendin team to embrace the integrated
“One day we would be working on the road in Riverside project delivery (IPD) method. He says by involving all
County, and the next day we would be dealing with stakeholders in the permitting process and all facets of
BLM and a different jurisdiction, and then the tribe subcontracting and supply chain issues, the team has
would come along to see if any (artifacts) were found established a level of accountability and ownership
on their land,” says Gonzales. “We have easements in responsibilities required to make this project a “huge success.”
each jurisdiction, but if we step outside the boundaries,
they will fine us, and that makes it very difficult.” Lincoln says when the team began the project in January
2020, Rosendin would sit around a table with its own in-house
Gonzales says Riverside County required 81 different engineers, the client, and a couple of key subcontractors and
SOLAR FARM OVERCOMES arrays, substations, transmission lines, the operation and “The IPD process is a little longer upfront, but you get a more
collectively start working on design and going over costs.
permits for the Athos project for things such as photovoltaic
maintenance building, and temporary office trailers.
detailed and thorough set of documents to build off of and
PERMIT & PANDEMIC HURDLES “The temporary power permit for the temporary site office your time frame is shortened significantly,” says Lincoln. “And
with this IPD approach there is very little, if any, change orders
trailer was the most challenging one,” he says. “It took over
six months to get this permit, for a project that is 13 months
because all parties are involved in the design process and
utility connection.”
By Greg Aragon, Desert Sun long. We had to run a very large diesel generator until the costing structure, so it’s been a great tool on the project.”
DESERT DEMOLITION
He says there were multiple reasons why it took the county
so long to issue permits, including a new computer system, Granite Industrial Inc. was contracted by Rosendin to perform
COVID-19, the retirement of key county employees, and all site demolition and clearing, site access road construction
changing contractor deliverables. “I’ve been on solar for 55 miles of access roads, site grading, survey for all post
massive solar project spanning five square miles is being constructed in the desert near Palm projects that require one permit, and 10 or 12 might be a locations, and installation of the nearly 230,000 foundation
normal amount, but this was the most I’ve seen,” he says. posts for the trackers.
Springs, Calif. Once complete, the combined 450-MWac Athos I and Athos II solar installations
A will cover more than 3,000 acres in Riverside County and generate more than 2,200 GWh per Besides dozens of permits, the project also requires a Tim Burhoe, director of preconstruction for Granite, says
massive amount of infrastructure and labor. Rosendin is his teams are using a fleet of Vermeer PD10 pile drivers
year of renewable energy, enough to power 179,000 homes.
utilizing more than 400 employees and union contractors specifically designed for solar use to install the roughly
12-ft-long piles about 7 ft into the ground. He says two-
person crews work each machine and can install an average
of 5,000 posts per week for Athos I.
“There is more than 50 miles of roadway going through the The 200-MW Athos 2 is currently about 98% complete
property, and the amount of people and resources needed with an operation date of Dec. 7, and the 250-MW Athos 1 “This is a challenging process because we have to survey
to complete this project is pretty massive,” says David is more than 50% complete with an operation date in every point so we can put a giant nail with a ribbon on it that
Lincoln, senior vice president at Rosendin Renewable Energy April 2022. determines which pile goes at each location,” Burhoe says.
Group. “The ability to bring together 300 to 400 electrical Located about 75 miles east of Palm Springs near the small
tradespeople in the middle of the desert and be on the same For Athos 1, SB Energy has a power purchase agreement town of Desert Center, the project site is remote and hot.
page and motivated to complete the project on time is to sell the energy created to Direct Energy Business, part To make it through 120-degree summer days, Gonzales
really impressive.” of Direct Energy, one of North America’s largest energy says crews started work at 5 a.m. and could leave early if
and energy-related services providers, and a subsidiary
Rosendin’s Renewable Energy Group (RREG), a division of of Centrica PLC. For Athos II, SB Energy will sell long-term they felt ill or too hot. He says the team set up cool-down
electrical contractor Rosendin, was contracted by subsidiaries renewable energy credits and output to Chicago-based stations with ice and shade, arranged water breaks every hour
of SB Energy US Holdings One Inc. (SB Energy), a renewable energy provider Exelon Corp. and had safety personnel on site to make sure no one was
energy corporation and a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp., overheating. Rosendin even brought in an ice cream truck
to design and build the $700-million project. SB Energy says The project has not been without challenges. The solar farm to serve the site. 
the facility is being built to help meet California’s Renewable is being constructed in the middle of the desert with remote Source: ENR California
Portfolio Standard (RPS) to advance renewable energy. project access and a 3,400-acre jobsite divided between four
different agencies with myriad permitting requirements. Click here to read the full article.

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