Miami Children’s Museum Project Overview
Goldin Solar had the honor of being the construction and installation contractor for the 14.31 kW solar array at the Miami Children’s Museum in 2014. The solar array for the Miami Children’s Museum was a very fun and complex project. It is also featured as an exhibit inside. We were selected as the installer due to our solar construction and project management experience and ability to understand and coordinate the many details of the project.
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Technical Details
The solar array at the Miami Children’s Museum consists of two rows of parallel solar panels installed along a curve between two parallel walls on the roof, over 20 feet above the roof surface. The array is a total of 14.31 kilowatts. The walls are aesthetic features of the roof which capture the fun, oceanic feel of the museum located in Biscayne Bay, Miami. The wave shape of the panels was accomplished with triangles matching the curve of the wall. This was achieved without roof penetrations by installing custom clamps on existing support beams. The clamps support aluminum rails to which the solar panels are mounted. The solar panels were installed with microinverters to improve system efficiency given the variety of panel orientations present.
Key Challenges
- The support beams to which panels are mounted are all at different heights, so each beam-to-beam connection is at a different angle. As a result, each set of panels had a unique set of clamps manufactured at the correct angle for their pair of horizontal beams. Ensuring the correct clamps were attached to the correct beams was an organizational difficulty.
- The aluminum rails to which the panels are mounted are not aligned down the length of the wall. Thus, to align the panels themselves such that the cells matched from row to row, the rails were attached to the panels at alternating positions as shown in the photo below.
- Since the panels had varying orientations relative to the sun, this project was an early application of microinverters instead of the typical string inverters which were common at the time.
We successfully completed this project, in spite of its challenges, by implementing a high degree of systematization to the installation process.
Miami Solar Success
The success of this Miami solar project highlights our ability to coordinate the many challenges of installing beautiful, functional, and customizable solar arrays. This ability has helped us secure many top rankings in Florida and nationally, including our recognition as the Most Experienced Solar Installer in Florida by EarthTechling. To learn more about how we are able to provide the best solar in Florida, visit our YouTube channel or schedule a quote today.