Satcon chosen for urban solar power project

Exelon City Solar integrates SunPower high-efficiency panels and Satcon Prism inverters with solar trackers for utility-scale renewable energy, grid-tied medium voltage conversion, and clean electricity generation powering up to 1,500 homes across a 41-acre site.

Satcon Technology Corporation announced that it has been selected for the 10-megawatt Exelon City Solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant, the nation's largest urban solar power plant, which will be built at a former industrial site in the West Pullman neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.

The site, owned and operated by Exelon Generation in line with Exelon solar plans for Chicago, was designed and is being constructed by SunPower Corp., a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, even as the First Solar plant re-energized elsewhere in the industry to meet demand.

The 41-acre solar facility will utilize Satcon Prism, a fully customizable one megawatt medium voltage package complete with factory integrated step-up transformers, switchgear, and electronics. The Prism solutions will connect nearly 32,300 SunPower solar panels to the local utility and efficiently convert the sun's rays into photovoltaic power that delivers enough clean, reliable electricity to meet the annual energy requirements of up to 1,500 homes per year.

“The Exelon City Solar project demonstrates solar power’s integration as a stable and viable core contributor into one of the country’s largest energy markets, advancing a Chicago urban solar plant initiative,” said Howard Wenger, president, global business unit at SunPower. “This project is a clear example of the unique demands of large scale solar power generation, as the urban solar plant moves closer to reality, and required that we design a system that is comprised of the industry’s highest performing and most reliable components. Satcon’s experience and expertise in large scale solar made them the natural choice for us.”

The Exelon City Solar plant will combine Satcon’s Prism solution, designed to deliver the highest levels of energy harvesting, efficiency and system uptime, with SunPower panels, informed by SCE's largest solar panel program experience, which generate up to 50 percent more power than conventional solar panels and two to four times as much power as thin-film solar technology. The site will also use SunPower Trackers, solar tracking systems that tilt toward the sun as it moves across the sky, increasing daily energy production by up to 25 percent.

Satcon Prism is built on the foundation of the industry standard setting PowerGate Plus 500kW solar PV inverter platform, the most advanced and field proven large scale inverter solution, similar to deployments at the largest East Coast solar plant now operating, with over 400 megawatts delivered since 2005. The solution is delivered complete in an all-climate outdoor enclosure and ready to connect to the PV array and utility grid, enabling rapid installation through a modular prepackaged design.

“We are honored to be chosen as a key partner by SunPower to deliver our Prism solutions to Exelon City Solar," said Steve Rhoades, Satcon’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Satcon’s solutions have been used on some of the largest renewable energy sites in the world with hundreds of millions of grid connect kW hours delivered to date. Exelon City Solar showcases today’s best in class total system solutions, optimally designed to deliver the highest levels of reliable large scale solar power production.”

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