Case file / Agriculture and irrigation
Wasco almond ranch
A fixed-tilt field on a fallowed corner serving two deep-well pump meters. The array is aimed 22 degrees west of due south because that is where the irrigation day actually sits.
- Array
- 1,120 kW DC
- Inverters
- 900 kW AC
- Annual output
- 2,010 MWh
- Permission to operate
- February 2025
Specification
The numbers on the record
| Client | Harlan Grove Farms |
|---|---|
| Location | Wasco, CA |
| Array rating | 1,120 kW DC |
| Inverter rating | 900 kW AC (DC to AC ratio 1.24) |
| Modules | 2,036 at 550 W |
| Structure | Fixed tilt at 25 degrees, azimuth 202 degrees |
| Storage | None |
| Modelled annual production | 2,010,000 kWh |
| Specific yield | 1,795 kWh per kW DC per year |
| Load offset | 78 percent |
| Construction window | 13 weeks |
| Permission to operate | February 2025 |
What made it hard
The constraints
- A hard seasonal load: heavy pumping from April to September, near zero consumption November to February.
- Two pump meters on separate services, so generation on one could not offset consumption on the other.
- Static water level had dropped materially over six years, which changes the kWh per acre-foot in any long-range model.
What we did about it
The approach
- Azimuth set at 202 degrees, roughly 22 degrees west of south, trading about 1.5 percent of annual kWh for better coverage of the late-afternoon pumping hours.
- Tilt held at 25 degrees rather than the theoretical optimum, which reduced row pitch and fitted the array inside the fallowed corner.
- Each meter modelled and sized separately, with two independent systems rather than one shared array.
- Measured drawdown built into the twenty-year model so the energy per acre-foot worsens over time in the projection, as it does in the field.
Result
Outcome
- System size
- 1,120 kW DC / 900 kW AC
- Modelled annual output
- 2,010,000 kWh
- Pumping load offset
- 78 percent across both meters
- Azimuth trade
- 1.5 percent less annual kWh, better afternoon coverage
- Land used
- 5.1 acres of fallowed corner
Wasco almond ranch, Wasco, CAThey pointed the array at four in the afternoon instead of at a textbook. The bill agreed with them.
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.
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