O&G Industries

O&G Industries, Connecticut’s largest privately-held diversified construction company, has been one of the leading providers of construction services and products in the Northeast for over 90 years.

CHALLENGE

O&G had evaluated the idea of incorporating solar at their quarry for a number of years.

They met with an engineer to develop a solar design and planned to carry out the project themselves. As the process went on, they realized that an experienced solar developer might be more helpful, as executing the project internally meant that they would have been responsible for purchasing the panels and equipment, hiring a contractor to install the system, as well as working with the utility and managing incentives. That’s where Solect came in.

According to Matt Tobin, the engineering manager in O&G’s Power Division, “When we found Solect and they offered all of those services in one bundle, that’s what really made us decide to go with them…[including] the economic analysis, familiarity with state incentive programs, familiarity with utilities, both engineering, purchase of products and rapidly changing technology, and the installation of the project.”

SOLUTION

Solect Energy and Enel X partnered together to install a 1.3-megawatt (MW) solar array and 280 kW Energy Storage System (ESS) at O&G’s quarry in Southbury, Connecticut. The 3,762-panel array sits on 5 acres of land onsite. By adding the lithium-ion battery to the solar ground mount, O&G was able to capture the excess solar production to offset their peak demand charges and take advantage of an additional revenue source not available to them before.

RESULTS

The solar and storage system powers 100% of the annual consumption needs of the O&G quarry, while the ESS allows O&G to take advantage of additional revenue sources.

The system is estimated to produce 1.520 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year – enough power to offset roughly 100% of the site’s annual energy needs. The amount of electricity produced annually by the array is enough to power nearly 200 homes.

The new solar and storage system is the latest addition to many energy-saving and sustainability initiatives that O&G has undertaken, which include two other solar arrays installed by Solect Energy along with other energy efficiency upgrades.