Solar Array at Memphis Bioworks Almost Complete

In today's Commercial Appeal...

Electricians put finishing touches on Memphis Bioworks solar array

Electricians and other crew members are nearly half-finished installing about 3,000 solar panels atop the Memphis Bioworks parking garage.

Electricians like the work so much that they're hoping this first large-scale solar array in urban Memphis won't be the last. (Another, even larger solar array is about to start making power in an Agricenter field.)

The 750-kilowatt system soars above the top level of the 917-space garage, bounded by Union, Pauline, Monroe and Dudley.

The gray steel framing clears the parking spaces by 10 feet. Above the steel beams, hundreds of solar panels are already set in their sun-worshipping position: Facing south at a 20-degree angle.

Via electrical lines protected by tubes, the sun's energy will travel from the 2,986 panels to a dozen "combine boxes'' mounted around the garage's top floor.

From those boxes, the power will flow to the garage's northeast corner where inverters already sit. The inverters will change the electricity from DC to AC.

Then the power will move a few feet over to a transformer that will convert the power from 480 volts to 12,470 volts.

Then the power will travel down a tube on the side of the garage to a main switch. The switch will be installed on a concrete slab at Pauline and Monroe. The switch provides control, allowing the solar power to be disconnected from the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division grid if need be.

Then, near the same intersection, the green power will travel up new poles to blend with the MLGW electricity supply.

The direction of that power flow is one reason veteran electrician and job foreman Terry Patrick likes working with solar so much.

"It flows back to the grid," said Patrick, working with a crew of about 20 for Chapel Electric.

For most of the 48-year-old's career, his work was to extend power from an existing source to a new building.

Now Patrick is building the source, the power generator to send electricity into the grid.

"My power is flowing backward,'' he said with a smile.

Patrick trained in photovoltaic systems two years ago, going to class two nights a week for two months.

Building a solar array "is very enjoyable to me," he said. "It's new. It's helping the economy and pollution problems. It's green energy.

"I'm glad I caught it before I retired."

Electrician Carlos Barksdale took similar training late last year. This is his first solar project.

"When you think about the potential the solar industry has, it's definitely going to bring about a change," Barksdale said.

"I wanted to be technically prepared to make that change. And I understand it's better for all of us to go green."

Besides, Barksdale just likes the work better. The labor is not as difficult. The jobs aren't as complex to understand.

"Rather than receiving electricity to make things happen, we are producing electricity to make things happen," he said. "... We're feeding the grid."

The Nashville-based Silicon Ranch, founded by former governor Phil Bredesen, is financing and will own the system for at least the first 10 years.

After that, Memphis Bioworks has the option to buy it at fair market value.

MLGW will buy the power. The construction crew must complete the system by an April 12 deadline for Silicon Ranch to reap a 12-cent-per-kilowatt-hour premium payment from TVA.

Dr. Steve Bares, president and executive director of Memphis Bioworks Foundation, said the system will be making solar power by the deadline, but some work may remain to improve the appearance of the project.

The nonprofit Memphis Bioworks is heading the development of UT-Baptist Research Park and the city's biomedical economic development.