EDISON, N.J. — CS Energy, a leading integrated energy firm that designs and builds optimized projects in the solar, storage and emerging energy industries, announced a milestone and its continued growth in the Northeast by providing full turnkey EPC services for over 150 MW of solar tracker projects in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Connecticut. The six most recent of these projects averaged 25 MW in size, making CS Energy a leader in deploying single axis tracker projects in the northeastern US, a region that has historically lagged behind other areas of the US in deployment of tracker systems due to site complexity and weather conditions.
Helping the state, utility, and local municipalities meet their sustainability goals, these six solar tracker projects diversify the utility’s energy sourcing options and support local communities through lease tax incomes and an environmentally-friendly operation. Four of these projects significantly contribute to New York’s Clean Energy Standard, which targets 70 percent of renewable electricity by 2030 and 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040. One of CS Energy’s latest Northeast solar tracker projects also provides more affordable energy to local communities through Maryland’s Community Solar Pilot Program.
Although it is estimated that roughly 70 percent of new utility-scale solar projects in the US now come with trackers, the Northeast is a historically non-traditional tracker region due to its challenging weather and terrain. However, CS Energy’s innovative and experienced in-house engineering and construction teams have been able to overcome tremendous obstacles in this region to consistently deliver highly efficient, low cost, large-scale tracker projects in a multitude of Northeastern states. From the initial project development and design to installation, CS Energy’s team has mastered the handling of larger snow loads as well as the onsite grading, grounding and associated approval processes required for tracker projects in this region. This has resulted in reduced challenges with tolerances as well as streamlined field installations, which in turn minimize costs and de-risk projects long-term.
“We’re excited to be able to both contribute to Northeastern states’ low-carbon and renewable energy mandates as well as deliver lower cost and more efficient tracker projects for developers and project owners,” said Michael Garofalo, Vice President of Operations at CS Energy. “We’re looking forward to designing and building additional large-scale tracker projects in the region in the years to come in order to provide maximum environmental benefits and reduced electricity costs for local utilities, municipalities, and the communities they serve.”
CS Energy’s tracker projects in the Northeast currently provide enough clean energy to power over 18,000 homes per year, or the equivalent of removing greenhouse gas emissions from nearly 34,000 cars per year. CS Energy also has 4 GW of large-scale solar tracker projects in its pipeline and anticipates continued tracker project growth in the Northeast in the near future.
