Commercial Project

Solar + Battery Storage for Clinica Sierra Vista Medical in Lebec, CA

Clinica sierra was concerned about frequent power outages and they wanted to keep their operations going during the power outages.

Project Details

Objectives

Clinica sierra was concerned about frequent power outages and they wanted to keep their operations going during the power outages. They were looking for a clean energy solution that could power essential loads with renewable energy, one that utilized both solar and battery.

About the Client

Clinica Sierra Vista, serves diverse populations with comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and behavioral health services. Since 1971, Clinica Sierra Vista has been committed to providing quality health care to underserved communities, rooted in the fertile soil of Kern County, California. Emerging during the early days of Community Health Center Movement, Clinica Sierra Vista began with a mission to provide quality healthcare to migrant farmworkers.

Challenges

This project had some roof space requirements in order to fit enough solar on the roof so we had to rework the design a handful of times to optimize the space on the roof. This was due to over 30 existing roof obstructions plus keeping space for future roof obstructions. At first there were no foreseeable design issues, however after designing and installing the solar/battery system, the local utility (SCE) changed their stance on the approved design. This caused us needing to redesign a solution to meet their new requirements after the system was already installed. With the customers budget already being spent we had to figure out a very cost effective solution to close out the project for Clinica Sierra.

Simmitri’s Energy Solution

We maximized the roof by using more efficient solar panels and reconfigured the layout to fit as many panels as we could within the existing and future constraints. To overcome the utilities requirement we revised the plan set with a new design. We added an extra sub-panel to the system so that all the loads from the main electrical panel could be transferred to it. Then instead of using the main service disconnect to power the SEL-751 relay, we used one breaker directly mounted to the new sub-panel. During daylight hours this photovoltaic system will provide electricity in parallel with the local utility service provider. During a grid outage, the Battery Energy Storage System will provide the facility electrical system with backup power. Therefore the customer can benefit from both more utility savings and back up power.