Wisconsin-based U.S. Energy has completed its first solar project at one of its terminals in Fort Worth.

U.S. Energy is a provider of refined products, alternative fuels, and environmental credits and said it has owned and operated the Fort Worth terminal since December 2014.

“We’re excited to see our first terminal solar project operational,” Dan Morrill, vice president of operations at U.S. Energy, said in a statement. “As we work toward our goal of carbon neutrality, this was an ideal terminal for us to start with due to the available real estate. Having already added solar microgrids at two of our renewable natural gas (RNG) projects, we were able to carry over many of our lessons learned.”

Covering nearly 13,000 square feet of land between the terminal office and tank farm, the Fort Worth solar field consists of 312 400W bifacial solar modules that feed into a 124.8kW DC system, U.S. Energy said. The company said this project will generate 185-195MWh of electricity annually, offsetting nearly 50% of the terminal’s electrical energy load that otherwise would be sourced from grid power.

U.S. Energy said that while excess solar energy produced can be sold back to the grid, most of it will be used onsite.

Partnership and project advantages

The company said a key partner in the project was EnTech Solutions, a leader in sustainable, reliable energy solutions that’s dedicated to creating cleaner, smarter energy.

EnTech Solutions provided end-to-end project management through energy modeling, solar engineering and development, installation, and optimization, U.S. Energy said. This is the third solar project that U.S. Energy and EnTech Solutions have partnered on.

“We’re extremely proud to partner with U.S. Energy on another valuable renewable energy project,” Matt Sabee, group leader, field energy at EnTech Solutions, said in a statement. “EnTech Solutions is committed to the growth of renewable power in support of the sustainability goals of our clients, and in support of our global environment.”

The project brings with it advantages for the company.

“This project allows us to not only reduce our existing carbon footprint by tracking both terminal energy usage and solar energy generation in real-time, but it also provides insights into how we can achieve further reductions going forward,” U.S. Energy President Mike Koel said in a statement. “As we receive more data on how this project is performing, we will explore building out solar fields at our other owned and operated terminals.”

U.S. Energy has established a network of 35+ owned and operated refined product terminals across the nation that is backed by its internal supply and trading teams, multimodal logistic capabilities, and 8-million-barrel storage capacity.

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