Apache Solar will generate 20 MW of electricity for our six Member cooperatives as well as Electrical District 2. Swinerton Renewable Energy began clearing the 134-acre site in March 2017. Apache Solar has more than 77,000 panels and was dedicated September 22, 2017.
This aerial view, taken from northeast of the solar site, shows all 77,053 solar panels installed as of August 1, 2017 These three images show installation of the 15/20/25 MVA 69/34.5 kVA step-up transformer to feed power from the solar field to the 69 kV yard at the Apache Generating Station, on August 16, 2017An aerial view of the Apache Solar site on May 11, 2017 shows a row of panels on the east side (right). Highway 191 runs north and south on the west side (left). Apache Station’s cooling towers sit to the southwest side (lower left).An open container of solar panels sits ready for installation. At peak operation, four thousand panels will be installed each day. 5/24/17Solar panels are placed on the torque rack in rapid succession. 5/24/17Once on the torque rack, the solar panels are consistently spaced. 5/24/17Once properly spaced, the solar panels are secured to the torque rack. 5/24/17A trench digger opens a path for cable from the inverters that have yet to be installed. 5/24/17An excavator holds a spool of cable that is placed in an open trench. 5/24/17Piling caps are placed on the top of each piling, before the torque racks and then solar panels are installed. Apache Solar has 10,980 pilings. 5/24/17A 35-ton inverter arrives at the Apache Solar site on a flatbed truck. 5/25/17A crew of workers guide a suspended inverter into place. 5/25/17A crane lifted each of the nine inverters off of their trucks and lowered them into location. 5/25/17An inverter sits in place. 5/25/17By the second week of panel installation, workers were already installing more than 3,500 panels a day. 5/30/17Wick newspapers reporter Ainslee Wittig interviews Diego Leal, a panel installer on the project. 5/30/17Wittig shoots pictures during the installation. 5/30/17This image shows a completed section of panels on the northeast side of the project, with the Apache Generating Station in the background. 5/30/17
These three images show installation of the 15/20/25 MVA 69/34.5 kVA step-up transformer to feed power from the solar field to the 69 kV yard at the Apache Generating Station, on August 16, 2017
