Project Summary:

In April of 2004, Turner Construction posted a public bid to supply design & install a 50kW photovoltaic system on the roof of the NJIT Student Center. The bid was heavily subscribed by companies from within and outside of NJ. TurtleEnergy was chosen for their expertise and previous experience with the installer, LB Electric (also resulting in the first installation in the U.S. by a union minority business enterprise).

The requirements of the project were complex due to the presence of a three storey building which adjoined the array to the east. This building cast shadows onto the array until 9:25am on an average day. TurtleEnergy provided a full shading analysis and impact study of potential energy loss due to shading. Two Axis Trackers were employed onto tracked positions, increasing efficiency by 25% in the winter and 15% in the summer.

This project implemented 19 roof-mounted PV Powered Inverters, featuring a revenue grade meter, internet-based monitoring system by Fat Spaniel Technologies. Logged data shows real-time and historical PV energy output and demonstrates accuracy of the projected energy output estimate by TurtleEnergy.

The New Jersey Clean Energy Program and NJIT provided full funding for the project. For additional information see the full project specification.