Large-Scale Solar Design, Efficiency Upgrades and Construction Management

Greenway Partners led the design, coordinated the financing, and managed the implementation of Humboldt County’s largest solar array. The installation is on the roof of the Greenway Building, located in the Creamery District of Arcata, CA. At 9,000 square feet, it is designed to generate 126kW: enough electricity annually to offset the energy demand of all building operations and tenant activities including a FedEx processing center and several large and small offices.

Committed to supporting the community’s local businesses, Greenway Partners was able to source financing, incentives, engineering design, equipment procurement, and installation solely from local businesses such as: Redwood Capital Bank, McKeever Energy & Electric, and Backwoods Solar.

The energy improvement projects at the Greenway Building demonstrate several sustainable design strategies that improve building comfort and performance while enabling the building to achieve Zero Net Energy. Soon, new and existing buildings will be required to perform at Zero Net Energy and Humboldt Counties’ pioneering entrepreneurs are at the forefront of defining practical design solutions in the midst of rapidly changing policies, financing mechanisms and continuously improving equipment performance.

Zero Net Energy (ZNE)

ZNE is the practice in which all cost-effective energy efficiency improvements are implemented before the installation of a solar array, which ultimately reduces the net-energy demand of the building to zero. As innovations in California energy policies, building codes continue to move toward Zero Net Energy (ZNE) performance requirements.