[RE-wrenches] PV Estimate for Vaporware Building

[Peter Parrish]

At this point in the process you are prudent to minimize your effort while
showing a desire to give the client some ballpark numbers. As long as they
don't want you to dial in a large swimming pool pumping system or a
machine/auto shop, start with 2 Wp/sqft, 40 kW and decide what you want to
charge them for $/Wp. If you have a clean, unobstructed 4,000 sqft of roof
space and not overly long wiring runs you could bid less than $7.00/Wp.
Better to submit a "not to exceed" than to come back with an unpleasant
surprise. 

Good luck.

- Peter

Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President
California Solar Engineering, Inc.
820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065
Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885
CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26
peter.parrish at calsolareng.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Luke Christy
Sent: Saturday, May 09, 2009 10:50 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] PV Estimate for Vaporware Building

Wrenches,
We have been asked for a cost  estimate for a grid-tied PV system sized 
to offset the electrical consumption of a building that is still in the 
design phase. The building in question will be a elementary/high school 
for a small community in southern Colorado. The only information 
available is that it will be ~20,000 square ft, and will be going for 
LEED Gold certification. Heating will be either via a ground-source 
heat pump or gas-fired boiler+solar thermal feeding radiant floors. 
Obviously the final choice of those two options greatly affects 
electrical consumption of the building, but that aside, how are people 
dealing with this sort of estimate process?...ie: when the building 
itself is still vaporware. Is there a reasonable way to come up with a 
ballpark W/ft² value when one is dealing with a host of unknowns? Any 
techniques you've used to deal with these extremely amorphous requests 
for costs?



Thanks in advance for your input.
-Luke Christy

Luke Christy
NABCEP™ Certified PV Installer

Solar Gain Services, LLC
Center, CO
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