Houston, We Have a Solution: When Conditions Fall Outside the Flight Plan

Key Takeaways:

• Post-construction measurements from approximately 60,000 piles helped the engineering team evaluate actual installed conditions on a solar PV and BESS project.
• Structural calculations using field data confirmed that many piles outside the original IFC tolerances remained acceptable as installed.
• Further engineering analysis reduced the number of piles identified for remediation from more than 2,500 to 785.
• Approximately 775 piles could be addressed through grading alone, leaving only about 10 that required more intensive construction remediation.

When installed conditions do not match design expectations, the safest response can seem obvious: remove, replace and rebuild. But an anomaly does not always mean starting over.

On a solar PV + BESS project, grading challenges resulted in numerous piles being installed outside their expected tolerances. With construction already underway, broad remediation could mean unnecessary rework, added costs and schedule impacts.

The team needed to determine which deviations were simply outside the original flight plan and which actually required a course correction.

Houston, we have a solution. Analyze + re-evaluate the installed piles.

Post-construction measurements from approximately 60,000 piles provided the critical data Project Engineer Brandon Castaneda and the structural team needed to investigate. Brandon developed a series of tools to identify areas of concern and determine where further engineering evaluation was needed.

Then came the systems check. Rather than relying solely on the original IFC tolerances, the structural team reran calculations using actual installed conditions under the guidance of Bill Swanson, PE. The analysis confirmed that many piles initially identified for remediation remained structurally acceptable as installed.

The results changed the trajectory. More than 2,500 piles were identified for some form of remediation at an early stage of evaluation. Further analysis reduced that number to 785. Of those, approximately 775 could be addressed through grading alone. Only about 10 required more intensive construction remediation, including concrete work.

For solar and BESS developers, a construction deviation does not automatically dictate the remedy. Data and engineering analysis can help determine the significance of actual field conditions before committing resources to costly corrective work.

Mission Debrief: How to Respond to an Anomaly

• Read the Data: Use actual installed conditions to understand the scale and significance of deviations.
• Run the Systems Check: Re-evaluate performance before assuming every out-of-tolerance condition requires the same response.
• Target the Course Correction: Focus remediation where it is actually needed to limit unnecessary rework, cost and schedule impacts.

Sometimes the best next step is not starting over. It is understanding what you already have. Mission accomplished.

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