Discovery Light Solar Project

The need for hot-dip galvanizing on the Discovery Light Solar Project was two-fold. The appearance is aesthetically pleasing and the protection from corrosion and rust over the 25 year life of the jobsite made the hot-dipped galvanizing option ideal. The galvanizing helped protect foundation posts used to support the solar panels from corrosion from the elements of the Northern Ontario extreme weather conditions.

The entire project proved to be challenging in dealing with weather factors and different soil conditions over the 100 acre site. The Discovery Light Solar Project is a fixed solar farm, which means the solar panels do not rotate depending on where the sun is in the sky. It is a 10 megawatt solar project and over 45,000 solar panels were installed along with the 5,000 foundation posts that were galvanized and then driven into the ground.

The other challenge the project posed was the timeline presented by the customer. The galvanizer ensured on time delivery by utilizing all of its facilities to galvanize the foundation posts and racking components. Over 25 truckloads were put through the galvanizing process within roughly a one month time period. Unique to this project, H.B. White Canada Corp. worked very hard to protect the middle land a provincially declared wetland and woodland area. The site has 6 underground streams that flow into Whites Creek and eventually make its way to Lake Simcoe. Water testing was measured and recorded showing no change from original sample. An erosion control plan was implemented. Wild Life and Species education was ongoing on this site as bears, deer, turtles and wasps inhabit this area. Equipment and people had a 50m boundary away from the edge of the wetlands and a fence is permanently in place on the wetland line.

Ontarios solar electricity sector is in the midst of a building boom. It is expected that installed photovoltaic capacity will rise from a current 1.2 GW to more than 2GW by the end of the construction season in 2015.
The Discovery Light Solar Project is an important contribution to the Ontario Governments commitment to its 2013 Long-Term Energy Plant (LTEP) and its procurement targets. It is expected that zinc hot-dip galvanizing will be the protective coating of choice for all the foundation posts and racking system components for the next two to three years.

Details

Award Class

Newly Complete

Award Sectors

Electrical, Utility & Communication

Environment

Rural

Location

Beaverton, ON Canada

Reasons for Galvanizing

Aesthetics, Coating Durability, Corrosion Performance, Ease of Specifying, Initial Cost, Life-Cycle Cost, Prior HDG Experience, Quality of HDG, Sustainability, Turnaround Time