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Renewable Energy

Nationwide Experience

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“We have been extremely happy with Conterra Engineering for the services they provide to design our solar farm. They communicate well and are knowledgeable. We plan to keep working with them for future projects.” 

Prashant Gabani – President, 183 Solar

Utility-Scale Solar

Large utility-scale solar projects that have a footprint of thousands of acres can be tremendously challenging for civil site design. We have experience completing multiple 150+ MW Solar PV projects across the country through the design, permitting, and construction phases. Understanding the importance of coordinating all the unique civil site challenges of a solar project is what sets Conterra apart from our competitors. Below is a list of civil site challenges unique to solar projects that our years of experience has taught us to focus on to ensure a successful project:

  • Properly vetting the site constraints to ensure the electrical team knows the usable area for the arrays, MV cables, and inverters.
  • Detailed attention to the necessary erosion control measures required for construction permit approval and to prevent pollution of downstream waterways and neighboring properties.
  • Working closely with the specified tracker manufacturer to ensure the site is graded to meet their slope tolerances.
  • Analyzing the mass grading requirements for arrays and sediment basins (when necessary). It is vital that the civil engineer optimizes the site to balance the earthwork and consider the phasing of the project to avoid costly soil import or export expenses and lag time.
  • Coordinating with the tracker manufacturer and structural engineer to ensure the pile plot plans are clear and precise.
  • Reviewing the survey data for accuracy and ensuring its quality is at the level necessary to perform detailed mass grading for arrays, roads, and sediment basins.
  • Communicate early and often with the permitting agencies, EPCs, and Owners to ensure we meet all requirements of the job.
  • Close coordination with the electrical engineering team to avoid MV trenching conflicts, proper access to electrical equipment, setting site constraints, and laying out fencing to support grounding studies.
  • Being available to the EPC/contractor during the construction phase to ensure we can respond to any RFIs or field challenges that may arise.

Disturbance of large plots of land requires a detailed eye from an experienced civil engineer to ensure a project’s success. At Conterra, we pride ourselves on being the best when it comes to solar site design.

Community Solar

As our team has worked on community solar projects since 2015, we know a key component of a successful community solar project is the ability to move quickly and adapt to the requirements of the municipalities we work in. Our team has experience working with AHJs across the country, enabling us to meet any project requirements effectively. We provide essential support services and documents, including solar layout, site design, grading, erosion and sediment controls, drainage study, construction routing exhibits, and construction support. The Conterra team are experts in guiding these projects through permitting and construction.

Battery Storage

Battery Storage projects are expected to increase exponentially in the future to meet our collective climate goals. Our team has a strong background in designing battery storage projects in both rural and urban site locations across the U.S.

For rural sites, it’s important to closely analyze the site constraints, particularly the flooding risks. While this can lead to costly earthwork, Conterra is experienced in flood mitigation and getting ahead of these issues to save the project time and money. We designing the site for accessibility, constructability, and affordability to ensure a quality product.

Urban sites have their own set of challenges unique to the renewable energy industry. There is still the challenge of working with the flooding risks and complicated drainage constraints, but these sites are typically under more scrutiny from local authorities and require detailed design of low slope pavements with structural foundations. Having experience with multiple urban sites positions Conterra to be the best choice to design these challenging sites.

Wind

Wind projects can be sited on a wide variety of terrain, each with their own challenges. Ensuring these sites are properly designed for the difficulty of maneuvering the wind turbine delivery trucks is crucial to the project’s success. This entails a close look at the horizonal and vertical road design, selecting a structurally sound yet cost-effective pavement section, grading, drainage, and erosion control design. We are capable of supporting these projects for both development and construction document design phases.

Substations & Switchyards

Typically paired with large-scale renewable energy projects, our team has years of experience designing substations and switchyards. These projects tend to have similar flood risks and earthwork challenges mentioned above with battery storage projects. Additionally, we know the importance of transformer delivery and ensure the site is primed to allow these industrial sized trucks to have structural roads designed to allow successful and seamless delivery to the site.

Land Development