Commercial Project

Solar Energy for Santa Clara County Fire Station in Morgan Hill, CA

Project Details

Objectives

The City of Morgan Hill is always looking for sustainability measures on all their projects. They wanted to improve the sustainability and reduce their carbon emissions while reducing the fire stations long-term operating expenses. In addition, they wanted a complete microgrid with batteries and a backup generator. They wanted to hire a local company that could bring together the different phases of the project which encompassed multiple installations on the property.

About the Client

Butterfield Fire Station is a Public Works project for the the City of Morgan Hill’s newest Fire Station that was was built in 2024 by Kent Construction. The station is about 5,800 square feet with a two-vehicle fire engine/apparatus bay, plus equipment cleaning areas; a fitness room; three bunk rooms; a combined kitchen and dayroom; and two restrooms with showers. The plans also include drought-friendly landscaping.

Challenges

This project was challenging since there were multiple installations that needed to take place around the site while there was a major new construction going on. The solar installation was made up of three separate solar arrays, all in different locations and they all required different types of installation procedures. (Solar carport canopy, Composition roof mount & flat roof tilted system). We had to install a battery system along side the generator as well as install all of the renewable energy switch gear and inverters in an equipment room that was very tight on space. Well before the project started we had to plan out all of the underground conduits and set them up in the exact location where we would eventually have the equipment. Since the intention of the City was to have a full microgrid, we had to program everything to work seamlessly together.

Simmitri’s Solution

Due to the complexity of the microgrid design and all of the underground planning, we worked with the manufacture rep, Current Energy and our electrical engineers. We also had to coordinate and work with the onsite construction electricians to make sure the gear that they planned on using would work with our systems and design. We had to work with the roofer on the roof attachment detail to allow for a elevated off the roof deck solar system so the roof could be maintained under the solar system in the future. We phased in the different installations based on the new construction progress. We thoroughly tested and commissioned the microgrid system along with Current Energy to ensure proper micro-gird functionality.