Location: Cornelius, North Carolina

Segment: Solar

Challenge: Identification of the best inverter equipment partner to support O2 emc’s development of cleaner, more sustainable, locally based and ecologically sound solar power plants throughout the southeastern United States.

Solution: The application of Eaton’s Power Xpert Solar 1670 kW inverter and transformer configuration for highest reliability, quality and support in solar power plants.

Results: Completion of 30 MW of solar farms that benefit from the partnership of O2 EMC and Eaton.

Background

O2 emc is focused on developing and owning largescale ground-mounted solar power plants in the southeastern United States. The company’s vision is to develop, own and operate the highest quality solar power systems at the lowest cost so that together with trusted partners, the massive benefits of providing cleaner and more ecologically sound solar energy generation can be realized and economically maximized through locally integrated business practices.

Consider O2 emc’s partnership with Sun Raised Farms as just one example of its radically transformative business-ecology model. Together the two companies have pioneered the use of sheep and other sustainable agricultural methods to maintain its solar farms.

Local farmers raise free-range, grass-fed sheep on the free pasture areas right under the solar panels and then further benefit from the partnership in providing markets for both the sheep’s grazing services and eventual product supply to gourmet food retailers.

This uniquely integrated and innovative approach significantly reduces the need for lawn mowers, pesticides and other harmful agents while lowering the maintenance costs of solar power generation and creating additional economic benefits that ripple throughout the local environment and community where the solar farms are based.

“O2 emc focuses on utility scale solar farms because we believe it’s the cheapest form of solar energy we can generate,” said Joel Olsen, chief executive officer of O2 emc. O2 emc’s holistic business model is fundamentally based on mutually beneficial partnerships with manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and service providers across the entire supply chain of the solar industry. Each O2 emc project seeks to maximize local economic benefit through the use of local contractors, local labor and American-made products.

“What makes O2 emc different is that we put the entire package together. We’re deeply involved with every process of development from equipment selection, to the real estate we use, to the relationship with the utilities,” said Olsen. And as the company grows, O2 emc is continually evaluating the net social worth of its expanding business network. “We knew Eaton’s quality and reputation as a major power vendor was good. But when we saw their entry into solar, they became especially interesting for us as a potential long-term partner.”

Challenge

Since 2007, the North Carolina Clean Energy Industry has created $4.8 billion in revenue and 22,995 full-time jobs largely with the help of innovative solar power development companies like O2 emc.

The highly successful solar model that is emerging there requires an in-depth understanding of state energy policy, existing energy infrastructure, project ownership and tax structuring, and strong relationship building skills that cut across multiple industries. In particular, O2 emc finds that the business network ecologies fostered around the hub of the local utility companies are especially critical to the development of successful and profitable turnkey solar power plants.

Utilities face a new paradigm of requirements for their business. Providing safe, reliable and affordable energy is no longer enough; now utilities must meet both state and federally mandated sustainability goals, incorporate distributed generation into their International Registration Plans (IRPs), and further support economic development and job creation initiatives.

“When we go through the design phase of each of our projects, we work directly with the local utilities to meet their specific requirements on power factor and on having just the right transformer configuration to match up with the local needs and specifications,” said Logan Stephens, project manager for O2 emc. “This can be a significant challenge to overcome.” “One of the concerns that all developers and owners of these solar power plants have is ‘how reliable is the inverter?’” said Olsen. “If there is one thing that will go wrong, it’s most often the inverter.”

And it’s not just a technical concern. Adam Foodman, chief operating officer for O2 emc adds: “With respect to funding solar development projects, there are several key factors a bank typically looks at closely.

The inverter is always a top concern as it’s one of the largest equipment parts involved; the banks also want to know what kind of modules will be used.” Based on its reputation for high quality in other power management areas, O2 emc decided to give Eaton’s new solar inverter and transformer solutions a test run for two of its solar development projects in North Carolina. The company was looking for a long-term, locally based equipment partner that could provide high power reliability, exceptional support and predictable expediency at install to allow for optimal cost containment.

Solution

In 2014, O2 emc selected the Eaton Power Xpert Solar 1670 kW inverter and commissioning services for its Cirrus and Chocowinity solar farm projects. An additional site, currently under construction, occupies the land of a former quail farm on several acres purchased from the Town of Biscoe and the former Tobacco Stick Hunting Preserve.

“As opposed to a traditional padmount where the inverter and transformer aren’t necessarily made for each other, the throat connection of the Eaton solution is a lot easier to install in the field.

The product package goes in a lot faster because the inverter, transformer and DC disconnect are all in one piece and coming from one supplier,“ said Stephens. He added, “O2 emc also liked the fact that the size of the Eaton inverter is also very easy to work with in the North Carolina markets.” Lead-time plays a big role in keeping the company’s solar projects on schedule and also on budget during construction. “We’re able to construct these projects most quickly and efficiently,” said Stephens, “when the equipment shows up from the vendor on-time, right when we need it for install.”

“Eaton has been fantastic for giving us exactly what we need when we need it most to make our solar power plant construction and installation projects very easy going forward,” said Stephens.

Results

O2 emc’s projects are committed to maximizing the local jobs and local investment while enhancing sustainability and educational opportunities in each project community. “The one thing that’s really great about the Eaton supported solar development projects is that we’ve taken a farm land site originally worth about $500 a year in property taxes and positively transformed the value to almost $100,000, said Stephens.” In total, O2 emc has developed more than $250 million in solar farm investments. In the company’s six years in business, the company’s projects have included development of more than 80 megawatts of solar farms in North Carolina alone—which generates more power than almost 12,000 average U.S. homes consume, offsetting harmful emissions that would have been produced if the same amount of power were generated by burning fossil fuels.

Several U.S. and North Carolina state senators and members of the Senate’s finance subcommittee have toured O2 emc’s solar farms as they prepare to vote in 2016 on extending solar tax credits in the next year and beyond. North Carolina is second in the nation in megawatt production; solar power now accounts for 6 percent of the state’s energy.

Each O2 emc solar project created jobs for more than 100 local residents during the construction phase. The company strives to source 100 percent of its construction labor from the immediate communities where the solar farms are built. The workers receive valuable training and hands-on experience towarda unique skillset in a growing industry. The solar farms have touched hundreds of families; and, many workers have gone on to work additional jobs or have been hired by partnering contractors to work full time. With Eaton as its partner, O2 emc’s solar farms can be constructed relatively quickly to enable more environmentally sound energy practices and save money on installation labor costs. “Solar energy production is clean, quiet, has no toxic emissions, has very little impact on the land and adds capacity to the local electrical grid,” Olsen said. The projects also demonstrate a viable working model for solar power generation to co-exist right alongside farming and other agricultural operations adjacent to towns. The solar panels used at Cirrus and Chocowinity are guaranteed for 25 years but they will be removable at the end of their useful life; thus the land could be used for crop-raising again at that time.

“We’ve found that Eaton’s production and support has been above our expectations. If there was any problem at all, they were able to get us an answer within 24 hours. If needed, they would have someone sent out and it was fixed,” said Stephens. “Supporting our local community is part of the O2 emc business model. Because they’re also located in the Charlotte area, our collaboration with Eaton helps us meet that goal,” added Stephens.

“We’ve found that using components from reputable providers such as Eaton have typically allowed us to finance our solar projects much more easily,” said Foodman, who remains excited about the longterm possibilities of O2 emc’s work with Eaton.

“At O2 emc we take a lot of care to select the right equipment for our projects; we own these solar farms long-term so we always want to pick an inverter that’s going to last as long as possible, with the best components and the best warranty,” said Stephens. “We think we’ve found all that we need in Eaton.”