Nebraska’s largest privately owned behind-the-meter solar array is now online

At a ribbon cutting ceremony today, Valmont Industries, Inc., a provider of engineered products and services, celebrated the interconnection of its first one-megawatt solar field at its manufacturing facility in Valley, Nebraska.

The new solar array is the largest privately-owned, behind-the-meter solar field in Nebraska, spanning 4.3 acres. Forty-five tracker tables supplied by Convert, a Valmont company, make up the array. Created with weather and natural disaster mitigation in mind, the array’s transformers and inverters are raised seven feet above the ground to guard against flooding and include railing and access systems galvanized at the Valmont Coatings facility in Valley to ensure long-term structural resiliency.

“We are excited to improve our sustainability performance with the interconnection of this solar field, which is expected to produce 1.7 gigawatt hours of grid-independent power annually for our Valley facility,” said Stephen G. Kaniewski, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Using our own Valmont solar tracker technology, the field will provide the Valley campus with six percent of its electricity needs.”

Valmont’s employees and leadership team hosted the ribbon cutting event with local community leaders, business partners, Omaha Public Power District CFO Javier Fernandez, and representatives from Interconnection Systems Inc., who installed the array, attending as guests. Governor Pete Ricketts and Valley Mayor Cindy Grove were also present to give remarks celebrating the occasion.

“Valmont continues to grow the Good Life by investing in Nebraska,” said Governor Pete Ricketts. “The newly built solar field in Valley showcases Valmont’s innovation and contributes to the diverse energy resources we have in our state.”

Source: Renewable Energy