Renewable Energy

IBEW/NECA has led the electrical industry’s adaptations to serve a growing array of renewable energy projects.

While our training program still serves traditional power needs, it also produces the proficiencies in solar, wind, biomass and other alternative forms of energy. Our NECA contractors have teamed with IBEW to usher in a new era in green energy by installing a number of high profile projects locally and nationally, including:

• O’Fallon Renewable Energy Center in O’Fallon, Mo. for Ameren Missouri. Comprised of 19,000 solar panels covering more than 19 acres, it generates 5.7 megawatts of electricity to Ameren Missouri's grid.
• IKEA’s rooftop solar array in the Cortex Innovation Community.  It is Missouri’s largest rooftop solar array, with 4,085 solar panels.
• Solar panels at Busch Stadium, which provide not only supplemental power but are used to educate the public about solar energy.
• The award-winning Abengoa Solana Concentrated Solar Power Plant in Gila Bend, Az., the world´s largest parabolic trough plant when it was completed in 2013.  The 250-megawatt (MW) concentrated solar power (CSP) facility reliably serves 70,000 Arizona Public Service (APS) customers.
• Hugoton Biomass Energy Plant for Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, a plant that uses a mixture agricultural waste, non-feed energy crops and wood waste to generate 25 million gallon per year of ethanol plant and 18 megawatts of electricity.
• Additional Abengoa projects to create the Mojave Concentrated Solar Power Plant supplying 250 megawatts of power to Pacific Gas & Electric and the 206-megawatt Mount Signal PV Solar in Calexico, Ca., the world’s largest single-axis solar plant.  It supplies power to 72,000 San Diego area residents.

In addition, the Electrical Connection has been a strong supporter of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs.  PACE provides financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades which can be spread out for up to 20 years so annual loan payments are offset by energy savings.  One of the largest PACE projects in Missouri was delivered by IBEW/NECA to help make the historic Missouri Athletic Club more energy efficient.  The project offered a great example of the PACE program’s potential to help cost efficiently renovate historic and aging structures in St. Louis.

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