South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks

Cleghorn Springs Fish Hatchery Solar Array | Rapid City, SD

This project provided a new solar photovoltaic array for the Cleghorn Springs Fish Hatchery campus in Rapid City.

This campus had a peak load of 39kW, so the PV array was designed at 50kW and placed on grade at the west end of the site in the old visitor area parking lot. The solar panels are fixed and tilted to the south.

There were a total of 180 solar panels and 3 arrays including a 50kW inverter. The generated power is expected to be consumed by the building loads but has a bi-directional meter by Black Hills Energy to pay back the state for any excess energy not consumed on-site. The project is expected to provide payback after 10 years.