Prime Electric’s (PRIME) ethos of continuous improvement means expanding and diversifying our offerings as the market shifts and to become a full-service electrical contractor to meet the needs of our clients. Renewable energy has become an integral piece to the future of power generation. Our clients’ needs have shifted as clean energy have become the forefront of their sustainability goals. Climate change is not going away, and renewable energy projects are continuing to move forward. This is why PRIME is adding Renewable Energy services in our growing portfolio for both of our Washington and California regions.
With this new service, PRIME is now offering full turnkey Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) services for Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Our team will analyze your building’s energy needs to determine the Lowest Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) with the greatest financial payback over the life of the system. With our state-of-the-art software, we can efficiently perform conceptual designs, real life system performance, along with payback analysis. Our expert team will handle all aspects of the installation including but not limited to design and engineering, utility interconnection, commissioning, and owner training.
PRIME uses Aurora to quickly and effectively size PV systems. These systems will later be more accurately modeled using another software like PVSyst to determine the specific and yearly production of the proposed system using real manufacturer data for the various components. Using a customer’s electricity data from their utility bills allows PRIME to determine the most-cost effective way to use solar and battery storage to offset the client’s usage. PRIME can use this data and the modeled PV system production to generate a financial analysis that will determine eligibility for tax-incentives, pay-back period, net cost, etc. A standalone solar system, for an existing building tenant improvement over the span of three years is cash flow positive for the building owner. We are looking at around 3-5 years for payback with savings in the millions over 25 years. Return on investment (ROI) is huge with an estimated 17%-20% and internal rate of return (IRR) of 27%.
PRIME has worked on many notable projects in Washington and California that required renewable energy services such as solar power, photovoltaic panels, and battery energy storage systems. One notable project is the 200 Occidental/Weyerhaeuser Headquarters in Seattle, WA. An award winning 216,000 SF building that combines an upscale retail experience on the ground floor level with Class A+ office space on floors 2-8. A significant project goal was to achieve LEED Platinum – one of the means of doing this was to install photovoltaic array on the roof. The rooftop array consisted of 90 photovoltaic panels with custom structural racking to maximize the use of any available space. The system uses four (4) panel microinverters with 480 volt 3-phase output distributed directly back to the buildings main switchboard. 100% of the power generated is consumed by the operations of the building, most specifically the garage and office lighting system. PRIME worked with Seattle City Light and designed one of the first current sensing protective relay systems so that in the event the PV system produced more energy than the building was consuming, any back feed to the utility grid would not interrupt their network protectors. The building which achieved LEED Platinum certification in 2017 still maintains and operates the PV system to offset their utility energy use.
PRIME is excited to grow our Renewable Energy services and enhance our portfolio with new and exciting projects to come. To learn more about our Renewable Energy services or take the next step closer to your sustainable goals, please send us a message on our Contact page.
