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Our Saukville Solar Field is Up, Running and Delivering Sustainable Energy

August 1, 2024

Saukville solar field
The sun is certainly shining on the Charter Steel Saukville team as the 15 megawatt, roughly 50-acre solar field is fully operational.  

The Charter solar project team met with the utility and our installation contractor, in June 2024 to conduct a final “witness test” of the solar system. “Outcomes were positive all around,” said project lead Jeffrey Linn, Senior Project Manager of Electrical Operations. Now, Charter Steel is further powered by renewable solar energy. 

Read on for the full results of testing and the benefits this solar field will provide for both Charter Steel and our planet. 

Why Solar Power?

As part of our ongoing dedication to reducing energy costs, improving energy efficiency and ensuring reliability, we empower our plant energy teams to bring forward ideas. The teams have consistently helped our organization accomplish big sustainability goals

For the Saukville solar project, studies were conducted to evaluate our generation of electricity through sources like wind, waste heat to power, combined heat and power systems, natural gas generators and, of course, solar. The team identified solar as a superior option for Saukville, providing the best sustainable, fixed and low-cost energy supply that would help us respond to  volatility in energy markets. The reliability of the electrical grid has also been a concern that would be partially mitigated by solar.  

To meet our production goals and continue delivering products our customers need on a timely basis, we also aim to augment solar energy production with future energy storage to allow continuous operation of some processes if electrical supply is curtailed. 

Solar Field Testing Yields Powerful Results

Full solar field testing involved a simulated We Energies power outage and loss of Charter Steel’s connection to the utility grid, a scenario in which the solar field power generation must be shut down to prevent “back feeding” of solar power into the utility system. Charter’s solar system shut off in an impressive two seconds.  

A related test involved the post-outage restart of the inverters. The inverters, which convert DC power generated through the solar panels into AC power, need to reboot in a controlled, stable manner. The solar system performed wonderfully. 

All testing was part of an ongoing, productive collaboration between Charter Steel, We Energies and other stakeholders in the project.  

Results: Clean Energy from Sunup to Sundown

“Now we can freely operate the system, and the panels are already at work. From the moment the sun comes up in the morning until the sun goes down, the panels output power,” Jeffrey Linn said. “We’ve had fantastic power output with the long, sunny days in June, even on days when there are some clouds,” he added. 

We look forward to the ongoing benefits of the solar project, including lowered carbon intensity that helps us contribute to our customers’ carbon reduction goals. We aim to lessen the load on the power grid and do our part to be good environmental stewards of our community.  

Our Committment to a More Sustainable Future

The solar field will be a part of Charter Steel’s future with a 30-year life expectancy, daily monitoring and regular, professional upkeep already planned out. We are so excited to see how the Saukville solar field will help us contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable future for the steel industry.  

Have questions about this project? Email us at commercial@chartersteel.com