RICHMOND — Richmond’s first solar energy project is expected to be completed by year’s end.
“In terms of equipment on site, we’re on target for December,” said Palmer Moore of Nexamp, the project developer.
Sitting in a construction trailer overlooking the rows of solar panels, project manager Charlie Roberts said most of the panels had been installed.
“We’re finishing up the last three rows,” he said.
The 1,650 panels, known as modules, are arranged in groups of 25, lined up in 11 rows. They will generate enough electricity to power 100 homes. The company has a 15-year contract to sell the power to National Grid.
Roberts said the underground conduit that will take the power to the utility poles had already been installed. Workers are finishing the remaining wiring. Some wires serve several modules each.
“We basically take modules and we combine them down, so we attach 11 modules in this case to one wire. That’s called a string. Eventually those strings all come together in a combiner box, then it goes to a homerun back to the inverter here,” Roberts explained.
Richmond Solar is leasing 4.4 acres of a 6.8-acre parcel on Stilson Road near Interstate 95 from John Aiello Jr., the developer of the mixed-use Richmond Commons project.