No Limits: Off-Grid Solar
Posted on May 2nd, 2021
Posted in Uncategorized
Halker may be best known for their oil and gas expertise, but the Halker team has experience in nearly every sector from renewables, to residential and commercial, to mining, to food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and beyond. One such project outside what may be expected from Halker is an off-grid solar design for a residential cabin.
At Halker, we are all about stepping out of our “typical” projects and into other areas where we can apply our expertise to provide effective engineered solutions. One such opportunity presented itself with designing an off-grid solar array for powering a remote cabin outside of Westcliffe, Colorado. If you have worked on any remote oil and gas pad far from any powerlines, you have likely seen one of the small solar racks that provides power to the PLC, maybe a light or two, and some other small loads like the one shown above.
This is where we were able to take our knowledge from industrial installations and apply it to something completely different. The homeowner wanted a ground mounted design, so the end-product will likely look familiar, but be built to stay in place and not move around like the skidded racks that many of us are familiar with. When designing a solar array, the most important things are solar production, and battery backup for operation through the night and through potentially cloudy days or prolonged periods of poor weather. Most residential systems can just backup to the utility supply, but this system needs to be truly independent. We use special software to map the location geographically and estimate the production based on the solar array configuration and prior year weather mapping.
Talking with our prospective client for the cabin application, they really wanted to be able to use this for 3-day weekend getaways- so we used all of the data to offer a truly customized solution that is fit for purpose and will enable the client to be truly independent of the grid- a true getaway from it all.
Be on the lookout for the next solar solution coming to the rooftop of the new Halker offices!
Austin Dean graduated from Colorado School of Mines in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. He has experience in engineering design projects for well pad facilities, gathering systems, and midstream natural gas facilities. Starting his career at Halker in 2014, his roles and responsibilities have spanned Process Engineering, Project Engineering, Project Management, and Facilities Engineering. He specializes in jet pump artificial lift surface facilities and dynamic hydraulic modeling. Austin brings an E&P perspective to the Halker team, with a focus on project economics and larger implications of design decisions.
Emily Strengers graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 1998 (Hookem’ Horns!). She has over (20) years of experience in the Oil & Gas industry, has been involved in projects ranging from offshore platforms to onshore crude units, LNG facilities, gas plants, cokers, and polyethylene units, and has worked in 6 different countries around the world. As a member of the Halker team since 2019, she has brought her extensive experience to aid in project management, client and staff training, FEED studies, construction support, and facilities operation for both upstream and midstream projects.
Jeff Wellen graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in business and economics in 2002. Jeff is a licensed professional engineer with over 19 years of project management, project engineering, and mechanical engineering experience. Most of his professional career has been in the Oil & Gas industry with a wide range of experience across various types of projects including gas treating, LNG, well pad sites, cryogenic processing, biofuels, and more. He has also worked as a field engineer to support construction, as well as in a fabrication shop to oversee module/pipe-rack assembly. As a member of the Halker team since January 2018, his breadth of involvement in various projects provides Jeff a strong basis to lead a project management team through the trials and tribulations when executing any type of project ranging from technical studies to full EPC projects in the rapidly evolving midstream and upstream industry sectors. Jeff was named an Engineering News Record (ENR) Top Young Professional in 2018 for the Mountain States Region.
Paul Brennan is an industrial automation specialist, PLC programmer, business manager and product development professional. He graduated from Colorado Mesa University in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Paul now has over 25 years of experience providing industrial automation solutions and large-scale automation integration projects for oil & gas, water/wastewater, irrigation, and greenhouse industries in the US and Eastern Europe. Paul’s career has been spent developing leading edge, revolutionary automation products, and in the process, he has obtained several US Patents. Paul has notably designed products such as PADPro, PADManager, PROView and QLogiX for upstream oil & gas facilities, utilizing state of the art technologies with PLC’s and high-powered single board computers to provide advanced data collection and data processing at the well head.
Jeremy Montoya graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with an Electrical specialty focus in 2010. Jeremy is a licensed professional engineering in multiple states and has over a decade of experience in consulting engineering and has working in nearly every sector or the business, from oil and gas to food and beverage, mining, pharmaceuticals, commercial and residential applications. Jeremy started his own company, Selah Engineering and Design, in 2020 amidst the global pandemic and created a successful business that supported clients in a variety of sectors. Jeremy longed for a true multidisciplinary team through this time, which opened the door in 2021 for a partnership between Selah and Halker. In this partnership, Jeremy stepped into being the EI&C director at Halker, while continuing to support existing clients via Selah. As director, Jeremy brings a passion to build up and support staff as they provide quality engineering and design services to every client we have the opportunity to work with. With an eye for detail, value and confident support- our EI&C group will continue to grow and be recognized for their expertise, attentiveness, and quality deliverables in every project. Jeremy has also volunteered engineering services abroad, helping with the design of water/wastewater treatment facilities in Kenya, as well as master plans for facilities in Mexico.
Dan Grant has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Northern Arizona University. He is a licensed professional engineer in 22 states and brings over 30 years of experience to projects and clients. Dan completed his PMP and has worked as an engineer and project manager. His diverse career spans numerous market sectors, including energy, oil & gas (upstream, midstream, downstream, and water disposal processing), pipeline and terminals, mining (above ground and underground), chemical and pharmaceutical, water and wastewater and pumping stations, industrial manufacturing, clean rooms, 24/7 and mission critical operations, data centers and control facilities, and power (substations and transmission & distribution). In the renewable energy sector, Dan’s experience covers client-side and utility/grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated PV power generation sites. At Halker, Dan previously served as the EI&C Director and now supports clients and projects as a team and technical resource. He’s knowledgeable in wide aspects of electrical design and engineering, including power system analysis, motors and VFDs, harmonics, grounding and bonding and lightning protection, cathodic protection, heat trace, relay protection schemes, electrical area classification and API RP500, and power generation.
Andrew Depperschmidt is a graduate from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He has experience in a variety of construction and facilities projects including both upstream and midstream natural gas and crude oil processing. He joined Halker in January of 2015 as the Mechanical Department Manager and has since taken on several different responsibilities with the firm, including General Manager and Vice President. Over the course of his time with Halker, he has overseen the company’s growth, helped develop the management team, and helped structure operational processes around project execution for maximum quality. He’s inspired by Halker’s outstanding team daily and takes pride in being people-focused while driving the company’s progressive and forward-looking culture.