Solar Decathlon 2015 Competition

Renusol America Teams Up With Students for Department Of Energy’s Solar Decathlon 2015 Competition

~Company Provides PV Mounting System and Expertise to College Team from Stevens Institute of Technology for Solar Powered House Designed To Handle Unique New Jersey Shore Conditions~

Renusol America, a leading provider of solar PV mounting solutions with systems installed across the US, has announced its support of a student team from Stevens Institute of Technology in its competition in the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon 2015. Renusol America donated 60 of its Renusol CS60 one-piece, ballasted PV mounting systems for flat roof applications, along with hardware, and assisted the team in the design and engineering of the solar array.

Stevens Institute of Technology has fielded one of the fourteen college teams from across the country that are competing in the design and build of cost-efficient and energy efficient solar homes. Inspired by Hurricane Sandy’s devastating impact on the New Jersey shoreline, the Stevens Institute of Technology team’s entry, the SURE HOUSE, represents the team’s vision of a sustainable and resilient home for the areas at greatest risk due to rising sea levels and more damaging storms.

When it came to selecting a PV panel mounting solution and designing the rooftop array layout, the Stevens Institute of Technology team turned to the Renusol CS60 mounting system and Renusol America’s engineering team. “Because of the corrosive marine environment and the potential for heavy wind uplift in storms, we needed to stay away from aluminum and other metal mounting systems and be able to adjust the ballast to meet load conditions and the varying wind conditions across the rooftop,” says AJ Elliott, project electrical engineer at Stevens. “The Renusol CS60 is made of heavy duty, durable plastic and as a ‘one piece per panel’, modular system, we could customize panel layout and vary the ballast as needed. The product is also incredibly easy to assemble, and this helped the student team stay within budget.”

Kyle Hord, Project Design Engineer at Renusol America, led the company’s team of engineers that worked with the students. “An added twist to the challenge is in the fact that the SURE HOUSE needs to meet building and seismic codes in New Jersey and California, because after it is initially constructed and tested in New Jersey, it then gets disassembled and shipped across the country to Irvine, CA and ‘rebuilt’ for the competition, public exhibit and walk-throughs,” noted Hord.

“Renusol America was a great resource during the design and engineering,” added Elliott. “Their engineers were available to the students throughout the process and helped us make adjustments to meet the challenging New Jersey shoreline conditions and strict DOE competition criteria.”

NRG Home Solar installed the 32 LG MonoX panels for the 9 kW system, which is expected to generate over $1200 of energy annually. The SURE HOUSE power system supplies more energy than the house needs throughout the year and even produces backup power to support the community during blackouts.