Manufacturers and Researchers Are Fl Ocking to Albuquerque in Search Of
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PV Coast to Coast Manufacturers and researchers are fl ocking to Albuquerque in search of America’s PV future Talk about a solar cluster: New Mexico’s largest city and indus- trial center is fast becoming one. Module, tracking system and rack manufacturers have all gained footholds in Albuquerque. Meanwhile, scientifi c bodies like Sandia National Laboratories, the University of New Mexico and, now, Fraunhofer’s new CFV Solar Test Laboratory, are puttingenergy the city map on inthe a bigUS solarway. An employee at Zomeworks, headquartered in Albuquerque, makes metal fi ttings for the company’s passive trackers. n a vast, wide-open plain overlook- itive and negative tolerance occurs, just »First, to be right in the middle of ing Albuquerque called Mesa del Sol, before the modules get checked for their where the main US market is going to Michael Jacquorie, COO of Schott electrical performance, then stacked and be – the Southwest,« Jacquorie says, add- Solar AG, describes the company’s full prepared for shipment. The soldering ing, »Second, the support we received manufacturing process at its 1-year-old process here is fully automated, cell by from the New Mexican government and facility, where 225 W, 230 W and 235 W cell, says Jacquorie. Albuquerque’s administration, and the multicrystalline photovoltaic (PV) mod- So why, exactly, did a German solar financial incentives they offered; third, ules are being churned out 24 hours a titan like Schott build its $140 million a well-qualified labor force and good in- day, 7 days a week, for sale on the US flagship US plant – a unique hybrid, frastructure in terms of laboratories and market. which combines concentrating solar facilities.« He points to where the glass sheets are power (CSP) production facilities of 400 And now that it is here, Schott, prepared and the matrix is »baked« in MW annual capacity with a PV mod- which employs 150 people at its plant, an oven laminator; where speedy robots ule plant of 100 MW capacity – right is helping the nonprofit Albuquerque apply an embedded protective foil; and here in Albuquerque, a city of less than Economic Development Group and the where the flasher-process testing for pos- 1 million people? city’s Chamber of Commerce lure other 94 PV Coast to Coast series • Part 15: New Mexico February 2011 » researchers and investors alike. Part of the reason is New Mexico’s Alternative Energy Manufacturers Tax Credit, which offers a 6-percent credit for renewable energy businesses that set up shop in the state. Other factors include the relatively low cost of living, the great solar resource and the central location between Texas and Western states’ markets. Indeed, some firms here are already boasting real numbers. Take, for example, America’s premier PV racking system maker, Unirac Inc., headquartered in Albuquerque, which doubled business in both 2009 and 2010 after seeing 80-percent growth in 2008. The company currently employs 126 people and sold racking that was used Professor Andrea Mammoli heads the solar research in some 270 MW of installations across team at UNM’s School of Engineering. the US last year. About three-quarters of those projects were commercial- and »wouldn’t have been believable only a utility-scale. Unirac claims to hold 40 couple of years ago,« because the compa- percent of that market; whereas the com- ny didn’t have any projects that size, says pany says it commands 26 percent of the Marketing Director Marcelo Gomez. market for residential racking systems. Indeed, the company’s 7,500 m2 fac- Purchased in 2010 by the Lichten- tory space in downtown Albuquerque stein-based tools manufacturer Hilti has become a powerhouse for both pro- Group, Unirac has leaned notably to- duction and innovation. Last year alone, ward commercial-scale production since 2.5 million kg of aluminum racking for launching its steel ISYS Ground Mount residential systems were manufactured and Roof Mount systems – for projects here. Accessibility to the product has larger than 500 kW and 300 kW, respec- helped make Unirac a leader in its field. tively – in 2009. To date, Unirac says it For example, the company’s mobile has supplied racking for 18 projects in platform website allows installers to dis- the US of 1 MW or greater, a figure that pense with paper instructions and fol- solar companies to the city as well. »It’s a win-win,« Jacquorie says. »If more solar industry comes here, it can only be to our advantage.« Racking and tracking Schott’s ambitious production line reflects a growing confidence that Al- buquerque will soon become, and in notable ways, already is, one of the prin- ciple PV hubs in the country – a place capable of drawing solar manufacturers, Unirac, based in Albuquerque, has doubled its business for 2 consecutive years. Frederic Neema / photon-pictures.com (3) February 2011 PV Coast to Coast series • Part 15: New Mexico 95 PV Coast to Coast trackers for shipment to US military operations in Iraq.) Ideal for off-grid purposes such as powering water pumps on remote ranch- es in the Southwest, the Zomeworks UTR 20 (with close to 2 m2 of module space) retails for $712, while the UTR 168 (with 15.6 m2 of module space) sells for $3,636 and can hold anywhere from 1.8 to 2.5 kW of modules. However, Zomeworks trackers are not recommended for ex- tremely cold environments. According to spokesman Patrick Lewis, tempera- tures of -30 °C and under in places like Canada during the winter can stiffen the shock absorbers and inhibit the tracker’s Zomeworks has produced and movement. sold more than 17,000 trackers A nexus of specialists to date. As it grows as a PV manufacturing center, Albuquerque is also welcoming more researchers into its midst. At the low all installation procedures on their A lso i n A lbuquerque is a not her veter- School of Engineering at the University smart phones. And as the current rack- an tracking manufacturer, Zomeworks of New Mexico (UNM), for example, a ing design goes, it »eliminates the use of Corp., founded in 1969, which makes team led by Professor Andrea Mammoli any field welding, field cutting and field passive trackers for residential systems is studying battery storage capacities and drilling, which saves a lot on labor,« says employing Freon gas that creates pres- looking at ways to reduce electrical load Gomez, adding, » We call it, ›Assemble, sure, tilting the tracker toward the sun so as to decrease the risk of voltage spikes don’t build.‹« as it heats up throughout the day. Em- when a PV system’s production drops But just as Unirac is not this city’s sole ploying just 20 workers, Zomeworks suddenly due to cloud shading or other racking manufacturer – DPW Solar, which pushed 540 of its trackers out the door environmental variables. With a 75 kW makes the Power-Fab racking system, is in 2010. The company has a total of array of Schott modules mounted on a also based here –competition in Albu- more than 17,000 products in the field. campus rooftop, the team is building a querque extends into the realm of track- (Zomeworks was especially busy last $2 million, 500 kW system on Mesa del ing system designers as well. With claims year manufacturing several hundred Sol – funded by the US Department of En- to be the oldest electric tracker manufac- turer in the world, Array Technologies Inc., founded by Ron Corio in 1989 under the name Wattsun Corp., has shifted its focus dramatically in the last 5 years from off-grid residential systems to utility-scale projects. With the Duratrack HZ model leading the way, Corio says, Array has in- stalled 120 MW of trackers worldwide, and its Albuquerque manufacturing facility is currently operating at 480 MW of annual capacity. The city’s lower operating costs and its geography make it »a great location for solar companies.« Schott Solar employees prepare fi nished modules for packaging and shipment at the company’s 1-year-old production line in Albuquerque. Frederic Neema / photon-pictures.com (3) 96 PV Coast to Coast series • Part 15: New Mexico February 2011 » ergy (DOE), in collaboration with utility Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado; nies seeking »precertification« testing of PNM and Sandia National Laboratories – to make use of the state’s high solar ir- their modules before they prepare them to experiment with battery storage. The radiance levels; and to take advantage of for manufacturing. Each test will last 2 aim is to find ways to efficiently store a good business climate and »a highly to 3 months on average, and everything and move electricity from peak produc- skilled workforce with lots of experience from crystalline PV to thin films, con- tion periods to peak load times. in solar testing and solar technologies.« centrating PV (CPV) and building-inte- Sandia is the larger institution in Hoepfner adds, »Albuquerque was just grated PV (BIPV) will be studied. Mostly, Albuquerque dedicated to PV research, the logical choice.« Plass says, »the certification is to prevent whose $12 million Department of De- One of the main goals of the CFV lab infant mortalities – to make sure these fense (DOD) funded Photovoltaic Sys- is to shorten the lead time for certifica- [products] don’t die 6 months or 1 year tems Evaluation Laboratory (PSEL) con- tion, so that module makers aren’t forced into the field.« ducts research into both the variability to wait as long to start marketing their At its core, however, CFV is an at- and reliability of solar modules. One of products.