Vail Amphitheatre Solar Project
Client: Vail Valley Foundation
Location: Vail, CO
Scope: Solar power generation
Challenge: Implement a 58kW solar power system to offset electrical grid power, while addressing regulatory limits, aesthetic concerns, heavy snow loads, and financial incentives for a non-profit client.
Solution:
Roof Membrane Coordination: The coordination of a new roof membrane with the roofer in conjunction with project timing of the solar installation.
Dual Grid Interconnection Design: Designed the project with both net-metered and DER GEN Tariff installations to comply with the 25kW net-metering limit while maximizing the 58kW solar capacity. This involved creating two points of interconnection, one behind the meter and one ahead of it.
Aesthetic Integration: Ensured a clean installation with concealed components to maintain the amphitheater’s appearance, crucial for a venue hosting renowned artists and events.
Structural Reinforcement: Selected solar panels and reinforced the racking system to withstand Vail’s heavy snow load requirement of 120PSF.
Community Engagement: Client to Install a ground-level kiosk displaying real-time solar power generation data to demonstrate the client’s commitment to renewable energy while Sunsense set up the monitoring system to be displayed.
Financial Navigation: Leveraged the Inflation Reduction Act's new incentive policy to secure the maximum federal direct payback for the non-profit client.
Result: A successfully integrated solar power system that not only meets the client’s renewable energy goals but also engages the community and adheres to local aesthetic and structural standards. This project was a collaborative effort with a municipality, reflecting our shared commitment to sustainability and innovation in the Vail Valley.
-
In this video I want to share with you a solar installation that I was responsible for in the town of Vail, Colorado. The structure that you are looking at is a Gerald Ford amphitheater, and it is a coveted structure in the town because it brings the community as well as people from all around the world into a performing arts center. The town is very supportive of the arts, and they also wanted to show the community that they were supportive of solar power generation.
So as a result, they wanted me to present to them an efficient design that would allow them to accomplish offsetting energy at this world-renowned structure. The project was initially brought to me by Zehren Architects, who act as a plan holder for the entire park area. They had a solar study that was presented to me, and they wanted me to review the study to see if it made sense for the harsh mountain environment.
After reviewing the study, it was apparent to me that I needed immediately to recommend to them solar panels and a racking mounting fashion that would withstand the high snow load for this area, because as you can see, the structure itself has a very low-pitched roof system. Here you can see three of the four roof leaves, and they are at approximately a 12% pitch. Unfortunately, three of the four of the roof panels were not eligible for solar due to their orientation.
The first thing that I had to consider was how are we going to fasten our racking system to a roofing profile that is very shallow? And this project was not only a solar installation, but it was also going to be a roof membrane replacement. So, I had to work closely with the roofer to better understand the roof membrane installation process, but also select a fastening product that would work with that type of TPO roof membrane while we are also coordinating the coloring of our products to match the roofer's new roof membrane.
We had to perform glare studies as well, because if we were to propose a solar array on one of the roof planes, we needed to make sure that no audience members would be distracted by a glare during a performance. So as a result, we performed our glare study and found that indeed there would be no risk of glare to any audience member. Now the racking itself was a huge undertaking because of the huge snow load. We are talking about 120 pounds per square foot of load on this roof.
So, we had to make sure that the racking was going to not only support the solar modules, but be fastened to the roof so that there would be no movement of any component that we are installing. You can see here the racking method was to double up the racking so that there was more reinforcement for the panels so they would not flex if there was a large live load on them.
The next decision I had to make was, what solar panel are we going to select that could withstand this large load of snow during the winter? There's only a couple out there on the market, and we decided to use the REC panel to accomplish this for our client. The project was 58 kilowatts worth of solar for our client, and this offset about 25% of the structure's electrical usage.
It was a challenging project from a utility standpoint as well because this was a very large three-phase service, and the local utility had limits on how much solar could be installed for net metering, and there was a 25-kilowatt cap to that. So, the only other way that we could install the remaining solar was to design a second system that would be connected via what the Utility calls a DER gen tariff method, which is basically an interconnection after the meter. So, you can see in this diagram there are two meters.
There is one here that has a production meter, which is going to be used for the DER gen tariff connection, and there is another meter up here, and that is going to be used for the 25 kilowatts of net metering solar power generation for our client.
This project was completed in 2023, and by then the Inflation Reduction Act had been placed into action. So, at that time, I was able to assist the client with understanding the further incentives that were placed within the Inflation Reduction Act for both nonprofit and municipal clients.
Today the Vail community gathers on a weekly basis to enjoy performances from world-renowned musicians and dance companies, and because of this solar power generation installation, there now is a reminder that the community is in support of renewable energy as well.
