Bird Exclusion for 81 Solar-Farm Inverter Stations in Utah’s West Desert

Client

SOLV Energy — utility-scale solar farm, Utah's West Desert

Location

West Desert, Utah

Industry

Utility-Scale Solar / Energy

Service

Custom-designed bird exclusion system — netting on custom-fabricated stand-off poles

Scope

81 inverter stations | system designed by A-1 | custom stand-off poles made for the project

The Problem

SOLV Energy needed birds kept out of the inverter stations on a large solar farm in Utah’s West Desert. Inverter stations are the shaded, sheltered structures on an otherwise open site, which makes them exactly where birds want to roost and nest. Nests and droppings in and around electrical equipment mean fouled components, cleanup, and the risk of damage and downtime on equipment that has to keep running.

There was no off-the-shelf answer. Each station needed to be enclosed without interfering with the equipment, the access it needs, or the way it sheds heat, and the work had to be repeated across 81 stations on a remote desert site.

Our Solution

A-1 designed the entire bird exclusion system for the project, start to finish.

Custom stand-off poles. To hold the netting off the equipment, we designed stand-off poles specifically for these inverter stations and had them custom made for the project. They create a framework around each station so the netting encloses it without touching the equipment.

Full enclosure netting. Bird netting was installed over and around each station on the stand-off framework, sealing it against birds while leaving the equipment inside clear.

Repeatable at scale. Because every station was built to the same design, our crews could install the system station by station across all 81 inverter stations on the site.

The Result

All 81 inverter stations were enclosed with a bird exclusion system designed for that equipment and that site. The netting and custom stand-offs keep birds out of the stations on a site where nothing else offers shelter, protecting the equipment from nesting and droppings.

Why This Job Says Something About A-1

This was a challenging, involved project: a remote site, sensitive electrical equipment, and no existing product built for it. A-1 didn’t install someone else’s design. We engineered the system, had the parts made, and installed it across 81 stations. When a structure doesn’t fit a catalog, we design the exclusion to fit the structure.