We asked some of the Dealer / Integrators in our company directory to send us examples of projects they have completed so we could share them. If you have one you'd like to submit please email news@altenergymag.com and we'll send you a template to use so we can publish it here.

Project Showcase - Montana's Biggest Grid-tie PV System

Chris Daum | Oasis Montana Inc

05/24/10, 11:50 AM | Solar & Wind | Design and Installation, Solar Energy

Oasis Montana Inc. of Stevensville, MT, is pleased to announce the completion and commissioning of a 50 kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) grid-tied power system, located near the Smokejumper Center, west of Missoula, at the Missoula Technology & Development Center (MTDC). Oasis Montana, in conjunction with its installer Mark Dickson of Simple Power LLC, broke ground on this project in October; the system at present consists of two hundred and twenty-three, 220 watt American-made Schott solar modules. The two 15KW and one 13KW inverters were acquired from Solectria, a Massachusetts manufacturer. There is also a smaller system (twenty 220W modules) installed on pole mounts at the entrance to the Smokejumper Visitor Center, which will be activated pending the installation of underground (and under asphalt) conduit later in April. This smaller system will have its own separate Solectria inverter.


Chris Daum, owner of Oasis Montana, says, "This system is, at present, the largest, grid-tied solar electric system in Montana."

This system has no batteries; in full sun it should put out approximately ~50 KW (or 50,000 watts) of DC power, which is converted into grid-palatable AC power, thus making the MTDC's electric meter spin slower. The first trial run, when the system was powered up February 26th, showed 38KW on a partly sunny day!

A grant for part of this project will be forthcoming from Northwestern Energy. Oasis Montana would like to thank Mark Dickson, Brad Stevens, Jeff & Campbell Massey, Jim Chase, Joe Bartuska, Adam Ondra, Jonah Malo, Gabriel Zeak, Apex Engineering, DC Power Systems, the Waterman, Maxus Consulting and Eyers Electrical Contracting.

Company Name:  Oasis Montana Inc.

Contact:   Chris Daum

Phone Number:  406-777-4309

Email address:   info@oasismontana.com   

Website address:   www.oasismontana.com

Project location:   Missoula, MT

Project budget:   still in progress (roughly $360K)

List of Products used:   Schott solar modules. Solectria inverters, Unirac mounts

Unusual situations or problems that you came across:   cold, frozen ground and gumbo mud.  Not unusual though!

We asked some of the Dealer / Integrators in our company directory to send us examples of projects they have completed so we could share them. If you have one you'd like to submit please email news@altenergymag.com and we'll send you a template to use so we can publish it here.

The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of AltEnergyMag

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