Advanced Power partnered with Bechtel to complete the engineering, procurement, and construction of its first solar energy facility, Cutlass Solar, in Fort Bend, Texas. The facility started operation in January 2023. The solar PV project, built on a 700-acre site, added 140 MWDC to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ Houston Zone, producing enough electricity to power approximately 20,000 homes. The project plans to contribute to the renewable industry by selling the Renewable Energy Credits to participating companies.
Innovation
High-volume projects like the Cutlass utility-scale solar project are perfect for deploying new technologies. Bechtel utilized a mix of digital and physical technologies to positively impact performance and efficiently deliver the project, taking advantage of innovations that allow for safer, higher quality, repeatable, and reliable project execution.
Some of the innovations Bechtel used on the Cutlass Solar Project included:
- Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping – This centralized system captured all project data tied to geographic positions on the earth’s surface, allowing for analysis and management across the many acres of a solar project and providing for streamlined communications between all team members. As teammates worked their way through the solar field, the system could locate a point on a map and provide all the design specifics, pictures, construction status and inspection notes in the palm of each person’s hands.
- Autonomous equipment – Bechtel used GPS equipped, autonomous machine positioning pile drivers for solar pile installation that improved the accuracy and quality of installations. Installation progress, as-built information, and individual pile drive time data was instantaneously provided. Bechtel’s proprietary algorithm allowed for 100% digital inspection of pile installation to the IFC design.
- Robotics – CivDot is a robot on wheels that increased the pace of accurately locating points within the solar field. This self-driving robot helped to improve survey location productivity from 300 piles per day to 1,500 piles per day.
- Drones – Using drone technologies, the team quickly captured thermal imagery and photogrammetry across hundreds of acres. This is yet another tool that supported progress visualization and kept the team on track toward its goals. Thermal imaging supported the identification of solar array issues from soiling to damaged panels to strings not performing, enabling site teams to act swiftly as they isolated and rectified issues that kept the site from operating at full capacity. The drone in the sky gives the Advanced Power and Bechtel team an upper hand at ensuring plant performance ahead of facility performance testing, giving meaningful data to understand export capabilities translating to plant guarantees.
