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By the time the Los Angeles Lakers have their grudge match with the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics on Christmas Day 2008, the home team's Staples Center venue should be getting a burst of power from a fresh batch of 1727 Solar Power, Inc. (SPI) modules on its very SoCal "surfboard"-shaped roof.

If that holiday game sells out and the venue fills to its 18,997-person capacity, the 345-KW system would supply more than 18 watts per screaming fan, if operating at peak power. Or if you take Kobe Bryant's average scoring mark from last season of 28.3 points per game and run his numbers with those of the PV array, that calculates to an average of 12.19 KW of PV juice (or 61 modules) for every point that the renewably energetic NBA MVP (and current US Olympian) put in the hole on a regular basis.



Staples is not the only downtown L.A. landmark that will soon go solar. The Nokia Theatre, across the street from Kobe's (and the Clippers', Kings', Sparks', and Avengers') House, will sport a 836-module, 167-KW array designed and built by SPI for AEG, the owner-operators of both the arena and the theater. The Staples' PV installation will commence in early October, with work beginning on the smaller Nokia system soon thereafter.

Although the utility company (L.A.'s Department of Water and Power in this case) will be responsible for turning on the system and AEG will be the owner/operator (no PPAs here), SPI's Brad Ferrell said they're "hoping for a mid-December" start up. Once it's fully operational, the 512-KW total installation will account for less than 5% of the facilities' total electrical needs on an annualized basis. His company won the seven-figure, nearly 36,000-square-foot, two-roof job after making what he called a "very competitive bid during the RFP process."

Ferrell, no relation to actor-comedian Will (though he does have a sense of humor), is the Roseville, CA-based solar solution provider's chief sales officer/exec VP. He and vice president of marketing Mike Anderson talked with me Wednesday (Aug. 13) about the project, ahead of the company's quarterly financial conference call on Aug. 14.

While the size of the Staples/Nokia systems is not insignificant, there is a "massive load drain" for the kinds of sporting and entertainment events held at such venues, and the issue of weight tolerance has to be considered as well. "The weight load added by solar needs to walk a very, very fine line," Ferrell explained. The modules alone, at about 37 pounds each, will weigh a total of about 32 tons, even without the racks, inverters, and other pieces of the systems.

The array itself will be stationary (again, a tracking mechanism would add more weight and complexity). Given the Staples' inverted roof angle, the modules will be installed "going uphill" at a 20-25 degree incline, according to Ferrell. SPI's own SkyMount racking apparatus, normally designed as "nonpenetrating," will "have penetration there," since it needs to maintain a lower profile because of wind considerations. Still, Ferrell pointed out that the amount of penetration would be minimal compared to other racking systems, with its lighter weight and snap-in module capability as added benefits.

On the inverter side, SPI has chosen different units for each system: a Solaron system from Advanced Energy will be installed on the Staples' roof, while a pair of Solectria boxes will help get the juice ready from the Nokia panels. Ferrell wasn't sure at first about revealing the names of the inverter companies, but then decided to do so, joking, "if I mention them, I put 'em on the hook." He reminded me that SPI was the first to commercially use AE's inverters as part of its installations at several Raley's supermarket locations in Northern California.

For both jobs, the solar provider will be deploying its own SP200 modules, each strung with 54 high-efficiency (~16%) multicrystalline Motech cells and certified/rated by various testing organizations. The 200-W units are manufactured at the company's wholly owned International Assembly Solutions (IAS) division in Shenzhen, China, according to the exec. The turnkey production facility has been running for three years, employs about 400, and features a semiautomated assembly floor with about 50-MW capacity.

Although the plant is "not running at full capacity and still expanding," SPI expects to fill out the factory by next year, he said. While much of the module output is retained for SPI's use, a portion is also sold to "third parties on an international market basis only." When the time comes for further capacity expansion, "we can accelerate in our own footprint or move into another site."

Ferrell and Anderson are clearly excited by the new downtown L.A. photovoltaic project, not just for the big cash infusion to the company's revenue stream but also for how the arrays have "the potential to be iconic" and will "really highlight solar," as the marketing VP said. "Staples is so photographed and videotaped," gushed the chief salesman, "it will be so visible, people will be constantly reminded of PV. It will cast a great, shining light."