With Florida’s power providers looking to increase solar energy output over the coming years, Moretrench Industrial has marshaled its considerable expertise to undertake the large-scale site development required to accommodate the installations.
The project
Site development was completed in DeSoto, Charlotte, and Manatee counties for three solar farms that will produce close to 225 MW of electricity. Moretrench Industrial was consulted by the General Contractor during the design stage and invited to submit value engineering and constructability ideas, some of which were incorporated into the design and work program.
The challenge
The sites are close to environmentally sensitive areas, including Charlotte County’s Babcock Ranch Preserve, meaning heightened awareness at all times. With hundreds of miles of electrical cabling, hundreds of thousands of support posts, racking, and photovoltaic panel installation by other trades underway in close proximity to the roadwork crews, close cooperation by all parties was a high priority to keep the work safe and on schedule.
The solution
Scope of work involved the construction of a total of almost 45 miles of access roads and drainage culverts across the three sites. Excavators and graders were fitted with onboard 3-D computers hooked into the machine’s hydraulics (3D Grade Control). Data upload and download between the office and the field was transmitted via satellite and cellular tower directly to the onboard computer screen. Over the course of the project, crews moved 275,000 cubic yards of earth, placed 200,000 tons of shell rock and nearly 1,200,000 square feet of stabilization fabric, installed 110,000 linear feet of silt fence/erosion control, and constructed pads for three separate substations and three sets of parking/laydown areas.