Naval Air Weapons Station

China Lake, Ca

This design build project called for the Installation of a Photovoltaic (PV) System at the remote area of the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, California. The project involved constructing a PV system with a non-grid, renewable energy solution to power an existing building used for monitoring personnel who simulate combat. The ground mounted 50kW PV System was constructed to replace an existing fuel power generator, which was transported to a recycling plant. The solar arrays were erected on a south-facing custom mounting system, which required reinforced concrete footings. The complete PV System consisted of: PV module arrays, PV charger, battery banks, inverter, hybrid power conditioner, and a diesel generator. Hybrid power was installed to convert DC to AC 120/208V while the battery bank stores the energy. The hybrid power conditioner manages the PV module arrays output so that the battery bank is not overcharged. A new Navy-supplied generator was installed and tied into the inverter to also charge the battery’s bank. The diesel generator was used to power the battery charger during the charge cycles and to serve the site load during an inverter outage or during long droughts of sunlight. The energy efficiency of this new PV System is expected to generate substantial energy cost savings to the Navy and the User Group over the life span of the system. Stronghold Engineering completed this project four months ahead of schedule.