ReVision Energy, in partnership with Quest Renewables, recently completed the installation of a 193.63 kilowatt QuadPod solar canopy system atop Portland, Maine’s Fore Street Garage. The system has been producing power since late May. Fore Street Garage is owned by ReVision Energy’s customer, East Brown Cow Management Co.
Quest Renewables, which designs, engineers, manufactures, and installs purpose-built solar canopy systems, is an Atlanta-based startup in the Advanced Technology Development Center’s ATDC Signature portfolio of companies. ATDC, Georgia’s technology incubator, is a program of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Quest Renewables’ canopy technology is based on Georgia Tech research.
The installation marks the first commercial solar parking garage canopy in the state of Maine. The solar parking garage canopy on the top level of the Fore Street Garage provides shaded parking and cover from the elements for vehicles and provides clean, local, renewable energy to the Hyatt Place Portland-Old Port Hotel. The solar array consists of 578 individual panels wired to seven grid-tied inverters and mounted to an advanced long span solar canopy structure.
Quest Renewables designed the system, which features seven of its QuadPod solar canopies. To accommodate the addition of the system atop the parking garage, engineers designed it to integrate into the garage with minimal disruption during construction. Ninety percent of QuadPod’s construction activity, including assembly, wiring, and lighting, takes place on the ground. After assembly, wiring and lighting, the solar canopies are lifted by crane for final installation, minimizing overhead work and optimizing worksite safety. The process allows for safer worksites and more efficient construction crews that are working on the ground.
The power generated by the system will offset energy used by the garage and the Hyatt Place, also owned by East Brown Cow Management. The 578 solar panels atop the system will produce an estimated 232,235 kilowatt hours of clean, renewable energy each year for decades to come, and offset more than 23 percent of the hotel’s historical electrical consumption. Over its lifetime, this system will eliminate 7 million pounds of carbon pollution. The array is grid-tied, and feeds into the utility grid anytime it’s making more energy than is being consumed on site. Solar energy is eligible for a federal tax credit, worth 30% of the total project cost.
“Quest Renewables’ innovative QuadPod solar canopy allowed us to meet a very aggressive schedule at a particularly challenging site. The Quest team was terrific to work with from start to finish and allowed us to deliver a beautiful, efficient and long lasting solar project to our client with minimal interruption to their business,” Fortunat Mueller, co-founder and managing partner of ReVision Energy, said of the installation. “We’re excited about having introduced this innovative parking canopy to the New England market and look forward to pursuing additional opportunities together throughout Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.”