U.S. solar developer PureSky Energy works within the community solar market and operates its projects for their entire lifetime, prioritizing collaboration with landowners, towns and other local stakeholders to ensure long-term partnerships in the communities. With over 9,000 customers signed up and more than $5 million in savings, the company is helping Americans enhance their lives and create local, reliable energy.
PureSky selected Terrasmart as the racking and foundation supplier for four of its solar projects in upstate New York. Although each site had its own unique conditions and variable terrain, PureSky’s entire portfolio benefited from the versatile TerraTrak 1P tracker combined with Terrasmart’s ground screw capabilities. The foundation-agnostic tracker has an adaptable design and is built to sustain challenging conditions, and the screw foundation ensures durability regardless of upstate New York’s frost, wind and storms. PureSky was able to achieve faster installations due to TerraTrak’s fewer foundations per megawatt and simplified wire management.
Portfolio Overview
| Project Site | Terrasmart Ground Screws |
Terrasmart 1P TerraTrak SAT | Size (MW) | Estimated Annual Production |
| Clover Meadow | 3,723 screws | 319 trackers | 7.2 | 10,280 MWh |
| Canandaigua | 2,310 screws | 319 trackers | 4.62 | 6,626 MWh |
| Tamarac | 3,483 screws | 298 trackers | 6.8 | 9,650 MWh |
| Green Dale | 3,800 screws | 286 trackers | 7.5 | 10,340 MWh |
| TOTAL | 26.12 | 36,896 MWh | ||
Challenges
A project portfolio always yields a variety of unique site-specific challenges. One site had a pond that required layout adjustments to avoid obstructions onsite and eight previously installed trackers in 1-ft of water. Another required shorter trackers to accommodate the existing topography, and a third had significant subterranean issues, including rocky terrain.
Site Challenges:
- Pond obstructions – A pond required the tracker layout to accommodate height differences, obstructions and previously installed trackers in standing water. The versatility of TerraTrak’s 1P tracker made customized layout and flexible heights possible.
- Tricky topography – TerraTrak 1P tracker’s height flexibility allowed for full adjustability and 30% faster installations than other tracker brands.
- Rocky terrain – Terrasmart ground screws are designed to perform in rocky soil, clay and 60+ in. of frost depth. Despite rugged terrain and subsurface challenges, the TerraTrak 1P tracker was installed with thousands of screws, which ensure reliability even in tough conditions.
Timing also posed a challenge — permitting issues initially delayed the process and impacted the timeline. What’s more, a site survey conducted by Terrasmart yielded new information and exact data on site specifications. Because Terrasmart’s surveys provide more accurate details than clients can typically uncover on their own, it’s common that they import data in the process.
Solutions
Green Dale under construction
Terrasmart’s experience in solar construction and specialization in drilling and installation assisted this project’s completion. PureSky received a turnkey experience supporting its community-solar goals. This portfolio’s project scope covered a wide range of development needs, including system design, engineering, manufacturing, mechanical installation and training for end users.
By utilizing ground screws and TerraTrak 1P trackers, Terrasmart delivered the following benefits to PureSky:
- Assumed 100% of the refusal risk with its ground screw solution.
- Utilized 1P trackers that are lower to the ground, fitting the topography and terrain characteristics at PureSky’s sites.
- Contributed subsurface expertise based on more than 11,000 pull tests and installations in every type of terrain to identify the unique nuances of each site.
Through project management and execution, Terrasmart solved the following production challenges:
- To avoid inefficiencies in installation, the team used Terrasmart’s rock-drilling machines to pre-drill all foundations.
- Terrasmart exceeded production with set procedures to install 75 screws per day — a rate that is 1.5-times faster than current market alternatives.
“We ultimately chose Terrasmart to build this portfolio for a few main reasons,” said Pat McGowan, senior project manager of PureSky. “One being the relationship and long history in working with their team from account manager to designers and installation team. We really like the reliability of their product, and the fact that their tracker, TerraTrak, is DC-powered is a big advantage for commissioning. Lastly, the stout and robust foundations and A-frames are very appealing for Northeast weather conditions.”
Results
Time savings: PureSky benefited from Terrasmart’s ability to optimize timelines, balancing the schedule of one site that was ahead of schedule with others that faced delays, yielding time savings and increasing efficiency.
Green Dale
Cost effective: To accommodate the topo and change orders, Terrasmart was able to help the team save $300,000 in civil work, more than $100,000 in labor costs and $137,500 in materials.
Access: PureSky’s customers will benefit from more than 26 MW of new solar upon completion with lower cost electricity and electricity freedom, the ability to select how they power their homes and businesses.
By selecting Terrasmart, PureSky streamlined development of the Green Dale, Tamarac and Clover Meadow projects, which are part of New York’s Expanded Solar For All Income-Eligible Program managed by National Grid. PureSky’s Canandaigua project, which provides remote crediting in the Western New York region, also benefited.
Through these project results, Terrasmart’s technological expertise directly supported New York’s community solar projects that make renewable energy available to local consumers and businesses who may not be able to install their own solar panels.
