Our team has been integrally involved with the development processes from assistance in project siting, to developing and implementing design-level geotechnical engineering and pile load testing scopes.

Geotechnical Investigation and Engineering
As part of geotechnical investigation program for our solar and other renewables projects, ANS Geo has conducted test borings in soil and rock conditions, test pits, and Electrical Resistivity Testing (ERT). Utilizing this field data and additional geotechnical laboratory test results,

ANS Geo then prepares a Geotechnical Report including the results of our subsurface investigation program, laboratory results, foundation analyses and recommendations, and construction recommendations for the proposed facility.

In most cases, site-specific geotechnical design considerations pertaining to frost depth and adfreeze stresses, corrosion evaluations, recommended LPILE soil parameters, access roadway design recommendations, and pile driveability assessments are included.

Pile Load Testing
As part of our typical solar scope of work, ANS Geo regularly designs and implements pile load testing programs including tensile (uplift) and lateral load testing as well as, somewhat less commonly, axial compression testing.

Pile load tests are conducted by experienced operators under the direction and supervision of ANS Geo geotechnical representatives who direct and document the load testing operations.

ANS Geo utilizes the load testing results to develop site-specific engineering parameters as well as recommend and/or “value engineer” the pile designs and provide more informed structural designs and material orders. ANS Geo has proudly saved our Clients hundreds of thousands of dollars in construction material cost.

Civil/Site Design
ANS Geo can prepare Site Plan Applications for solar energy and battery storage projects, to secure local permitting approvals.  As part of this process, we would prepare signed/sealed Site Plans and Engineering Reports to accompany the applications.

Structural Engineering
ANS Geo’s structural engineering team routinely collaborates with ANS Geo’s in-house geotechnical engineering group to provide the following structural engineering services within the renewable energy market:

• Review available in-house and historical geotechnical data, including soil boring logs, lab testing results, and historic resistivity data to understand and evaluate the impact on the structural design of various subsurface components.
  
  
• Perform structural analysis and evaluations to determine pile size, minimum pile embedment, material type, thickness, strength and required reinforcement for various structural components throughout the solar project, including:
  
  • Steel pile foundations that support photovoltaic solar tracker array systems.
    
    
  • Structural analysis on tracker pile foundations to account for additional loading due to the mounting of electrical collection cables utilizing a messenger wire and cable management systems.
    
    
  • Foundation design for various mechanical and electrical equipment including switchgears, transformers, and battery storage systems. Foundations typically include reinforced concrete slab on grade, mat foundation or pile supported skids.
    
    
  • Structural design of miscellaneous, ancillary solar equipment, including but not limited to, combiner boxes, SCADA racks, fire water tanks, etc.
    
    
  • Structural design of perimeter fence and fence foundation design including post sizing, spacing, and required embedment of directly embedded fence post or concrete foundation design.
    
    
• Preparation of detailed, signed and sealed, structural calculation report package outlining calculation scope, codes and standards references as part of our work, and detailed inclusion of structural design methodology, assumptions, computations, and results.
  
  
• Perform site-specific a soil corrosion analysis, which includes reviewing the corrosivity data collected at the site, along with subsurface profile, in-situ moisture content, sulfate content, chloride content and laboratory/field electrical resistivity measurements to estimate the rate of corrosion of steel and zinc coating. Incorporate the effects of steel corrosion and reduced steel sections at the end of the plant service life to the structural component design, as necessary.
  
  

• Prepare construction documents such as drawings utilizing AutoCAD, and structural-specific project specifications for concrete and steel.
  
  
• Construction administration, including inspection/observation, oversight, review, and responses to shop drawings, RFIs and RFCs