Springer Electric Cooperative, Inc., New Mexico, a Touchstone Energy electrical distribution cooperative that provides electrical service to member-owners, has completed construction and initiated commercial operation on a 1 megawatt (MWAC) Photovoltaic generation system called Springer Solar 1. The system is located on a cooperative-owned tract of land in Colfax County, directly adjacent to Springer’s existing distribution sub-station.
The project consists of approximately a 1 megawatt (MWAC) Photovoltaic generation array installed on the southernmost location of a 12 acre parcel of land purchased by the Cooperative adjacent to the existing Springer sub-station. The array site is located off Interstate 25 just north of the Town of Springer. Elevations within this parcel range from 5,980 to 6,020 feet above mean sea level.
The overall system design consists of 3,888 Photovoltaic polycrystalline solar panels mounted to Albuquerque based Array Technologies latest single axis tracking system and connected to 27 three phase string level inverters that consolidate DC power within the array modules and convert the DC energy to AC energy to a 480 Volt 3 Phase output. Finally, the system interconnects at the sub-station transformer at 480 Volts, and is stepped up to the required distribution voltage, making its way to provide power to Springer Electric Cooperatives customers. The system will produce enough power to serve the annual energy requirements of around 400 residential customers on Springer’s distribution system.
