Case file / Warehousing and distribution
Bakersfield distribution centre
A 960 kW roof array deliberately sized below the available roof area, matched to a load that is about to grow as the yard tractor fleet electrifies.
- Array
- 960 kW DC
- Inverters
- 800 kW AC
- Annual output
- 1,620 MWh
- Permission to operate
- August 2025
Specification
The numbers on the record
| Client | Valley Route Logistics |
|---|---|
| Location | Bakersfield, CA |
| Array rating | 960 kW DC |
| Inverter rating | 800 kW AC (DC to AC ratio 1.20) |
| Modules | 1,745 at 550 W |
| Structure | Ballasted rooftop, east-west rows at 5 degrees |
| Storage | None; 8 yard-tractor charging ports installed |
| Modelled annual production | 1,620,000 kWh |
| Specific yield | 1,688 kWh per kW DC per year |
| Load offset | 52 percent |
| Construction window | 10 weeks |
| Permission to operate | August 2025 |
What made it hard
The constraints
- The roof could physically carry more than 2 MW while the building only drew a few hundred kW during the day.
- An electric yard-tractor pilot was eighteen months out and undefined, but it would change the load shape completely.
- A leased building, which meant landlord consent and a lease term shorter than the array's life.
What we did about it
The approach
- Array sized to daytime load plus the modelled first phase of fleet charging, not to the roof, keeping exported energy to a small share of output.
- East-west rows at 5 degrees to maximise kW on the available structure within the dead-load limit, accepting slightly lower specific yield per kW.
- Switchgear and conduit sized for sixteen charging ports; eight installed, eight stubbed with pull boxes at the yard.
- Structured as a power purchase agreement so the tenant pays per kWh and the lease term question stops being a blocker.
Result
Outcome
- System size
- 960 kW DC / 800 kW AC
- Modelled annual output
- 1,620,000 kWh
- Load offset today
- 52 percent
- Exported share
- Under 9 percent of generation
- Charging capacity
- 8 ports live, 16 stubbed
Bakersfield distribution centre, Bakersfield, CAEveryone else quoted the whole roof. SunHarvest quoted the load we have and the fleet we are actually buying.
More work
Other case files
Bring us the bill before you bring us the roof
Every project starts with twelve months of interval data and a load shape. The array comes after that, sized to what you actually use.
CSLB #1071482 (sample). Prevailing wage on public works. Engineers answer, not a call centre.