Mercury Solar Systems and the US Department of Energy’s NREL have formed a partnership in the name of solar energy research advancement. The NREL will take data from its own long-term research of Mercury’s solar test-bed. The system will be built on Mercury’s corporate headquarters roof in New York with full operation slated to begin by the end of the summer. The project was partially financed with a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
“Our partnership with NREL will help validate panel performance for the entire solar industry,” said Lloyd Hoffstatter, VP of engineering at Mercury. “Combining several different solar panels into one system is an innovative approach to evaluate and monitor panel performance. It will also give us quantifiable engineering data to design, construct and integrate the most state-of-the-art solar energy systems for our customers, giving us a significant edge over other firms in this industry.”
At 81kW, the PV system will have several hundred panels from eight different manufactures and is anticipated to produce around 90,000kWh every year. In addition, the system will also integrate a hybrid PV/solar hot water system.
