By Scott Rand, CEO and co-founder of Affordable Wire Management (AWM)
The development of utility-scale solar power plants is a costly and complex undertaking that requires extensive expertise to avoid pitfalls. Most solar project developers rely on debt financing to fund their projects, and when interest rates rise, the cost of borrowing increases, leading to higher project expenditures. Given the high cost of capital and the fact that O&M costs for renewable power plants are considerable, it is critical that developers, owners, and operators seek out project savings wherever possible.
One often overlooked area to optimize efficiencies is the solar cable management sector. The traditional “bundled” way in which solar cabling has been designed, procured, and installed has greatly lacked improvement over the years.
Affordable Wire Management (AWM), a leading provider of solar cable management systems (CMS), is pioneering a new approach. Leveraging a combination of software, utility-scale expertise, and engineering skills, they have developed a completely new approach that is changing the entire electrical Balance of Systems (eBOS) sector.
Hickory Park Solar: Project Overview and Partners
Hickory Solar Park, a 110-megawatt (MWac) project under construction near Jerseyville, Illinois, is an excellent example of AWM’s transformative approach. Located just north of St. Louis, the project is jointly owned by EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA) and Volt Energy Utility as part of their partnership with Microsoft to integrate social equity into the U.S. Energy Transition.
Once operational, it will cover more than 1,000 acres with bifacial tracking solar photovoltaic panels, generating enough clean energy to power nearly 28,000 homes in Illinois. The solar array will significantly lower electricity costs for local communities, support the Illinois electricity grid, and save 139 million gallons of water each year.
AWM was initially brought into the Hickory Solar Park project by the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) lead McCarthy, which suggested AWM after partnering with the company on two previous projects, Sun Mountain and Bright Arrow. McCarthy understood that AWM’s offerings, engineered to withstand heavy ice and snow loads, were ideal for the Midwestern-based project. Additionally, AWM had an excellent track record of working on utility-scale solar projects in Canada and other U.S. states prone to extreme weather, such as Washington, Oregon, and Montana.
AWM collaborated with two other partners, Stellavise Solar Engineering and Voltage, on the Hickory Solar Park project. Stellavise, founded in 2014, focuses on the utility-scale solar and storage industry and is the engineer-of-record (EOR). Voltage, the eBOS partner, provides balance-of-system solutions and services across a broad spectrum of the renewable energy sector. Voltage’s LYNX trunk bus system, an eBOS cable system, was selected for the project.
Although AWM’s offerings were chosen for their durability and reliability, AWM was selected as the CMS vendor for more strategic reasons. In fact, thanks to AWM’s holistic CMS and an innovative approach, its role in the project became quite pivotal.
AWM’s Groundbreaking Ampacity Optimization Analysis
AWM’s Ampacity Optimization Analysis, a proprietary analysis protocol which they developed in 2022, was the driver that led to substantial system-wide improvements. Thanks to AWM’s accurate assessment of cabling and ampacity, the Hickory Solar Park project was able to optimize the cable arrangements, which in turn led to design improvements and lower costs.
Originally, the Voltage DC trunk bus cables were specified at 500kcmil, which is typical for utility-scale solar projects of this size. However, when AWM created a project-specific cable arrangement, they found that the trunk bus cables could be reduced from 500kcmil to 350kcmil. The AWM team then validated that arrangement with their ampacity analysis.
Leveraging AWM’s calculations, smaller Voltage trunk bus cables were procured, resulting in a lower LCOE for the project. AWM and Stellavise worked collaboratively, as Brice Casebeer, co-founder and principal engineer for Stellavise, explained.
“With AWM’s guidance, we placed cables in the AWM hangers in accordance with their modeled scenarios, which added considerable cost benefits to the project,” Casebeer said.
Engineering Innovations and Benefits
All the commercial partners, and in turn EDP Renewables North America, the project developer, realized substantial improvements. McCarthy, impressed by AWM’s analysis, commended the team for the value engineering.
“Expert engineering talent is critical and rare in the cable management sector,” noted Casebeer. “AWM’s team is unbeatable in that regard. Not only do they have skilled engineering professionals on their staff, but they also have years of experience in utility-scale solar. Their ability to deliver accurate ampacity calculations gave us the opportunity to place smaller cables in strategic locations. Their offerings truly solve real-world engineering challenges in the solar cable wire management sector.”
The collaboration among AWM, McCarthy, Stellavise, and Voltage was key to the success of the project, demonstrating the power of partnerships and innovation. Hickory Solar Park will set the benchmark for future projects.
About the Author
Scott Rand is the chief executive officer and a founding member of Affordable Wire Management. Experienced in technology commercialization, financial management, and market-share expansion, Scott is an accomplished clean energy leader. He possesses deep domain expertise in the deployment of multi-gigawatt, utility-scale solar, both domestically and abroad. Today, he brings his successful track record in building high-growth clean energy companies to his role at AWM. As CEO, he is focused on the company’s growth strategy, ensuring strong financial performance, and realizing the company’s mission to deliver value, innovation, and engineering excellence to EPCs nationwide. Prior to co-founding AWM, he served in leadership and product commercialization roles at Merit SI, Merit Controls, and First Solar.
