Bob Donaldson, Vice President and project manager of U.S. operations for AquaSoli, LLC, will discuss how solar specific geotechnical engineering reduces cost and risk, and adds value to groundmount PV. Mr. Donaldson will be joined by: Jürgen Schmid, CEO and founder of AquaSoli, LLC, with photos and discussion on lessons learned from forensic solar foundation failure investigation and remediation. Most utility-scale solar power project discussions focus on PV modules, inverters/monitoring, PPAs, interconnection and land leases. But what about the ground below? Solar foundations support as much as 50% of a facility's installed cost. Foundation failure costs can approach facility value. Solar geotechnical specialists design foundations to meet unique solar performance demands for decades and provide project enhancing design input. Topics for this webinar will include: •Vetting sites based on solar-specific geotechnical issues that impact production capacity, project cost and long-term performance risk •Executing a solar-specific geotechnical investigation in the project-planning stage as the basis of more cost effective design •Combining site assessment, foundation load testing and foundation design into a single reliable and accountable deliverable •Reducing foundation failure risk, installer bids, change order claims and schedule delays with solar-specific site assessment and foundation design based on dense, high accuracy analytical load testing •Leveraging the site-specific experience of the solar-specialized geotech into project enhancing input on array layout, rack selection, site prep and civil design, bid packages, and foundation installation quality assurance/quality control •Evaluating the latent risk of foundation failure in existing facilities and shovel ready projects with solar-specific geotechnical design review and/or forensic site assessment Attendees will learn to: •Recognize the advantages of solar specific geotechnical engineering as an alternative to more generic geotech •Leverage solar-specific geotechnical engineering at the project planning stage to enhance design, execution and value •Apply solar-specific geotechnical design review to assess the cost and risk of foundation failure for existing, design phase and shovel ready projects

• published: 18 Dec 2014
• views: 2