PV Desalination Plant
In 1981 SDA provided engineering support to Mobil Oil Corporation for the design and construction of a PV-powered, reverse-osmosis water desalinization plant in Saudi Arabia. The facility was constructed to supply a desert village with purified drinking water and includes an 8.5 kWp PV array with battery storage, primary and secondary purification equipment and potable water storage.

Solar Power for NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) wanted to incorporate solar energy at the National Marine Fisheries Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In response, SDA engineered a solar thermal system to interface with the existing mechanical equipment to heat the space and temper large amounts of incoming fresh air needed to meet ventilation requirements. NOAA also asked SDA to design a similar solar system for their National Marine Fisheries Laboratory in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Solar Neighborhood
In 1985, SDA provided design, engineering and construction services to New England Electric for a 100 kWp PV demonstration program to power 38 buildings in the central Massachusetts town of Gardner with solar electricity on a turn-key basis.

A neighborhood of thirty existing single-family homes, all on the same distribution feeder, were selected to receive roof-top PV systems. In addition, the City Hall, the library, the local community college, and even the local Burger King were all converted to PV. The $1.25 million project was the first of its kind and received worldwide attention.

Solar Electric Power for Utilities
In 1993, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) retained Solar Design Associates to provide program definition and technical support to their in-house engineering group for their pioneering solar program. Following the example SDA set in Gardner, SMUD embarked on an ambitious plan to install PV systems on many hundreds of their customers' buildings each year. In 1995, some 580 kWp of systems were installed on buildings as well as a 263 kWp ground-mounted PV system at a substation. SMUD is leading the country in utility use of PV and plans more than 10 megaWatts of additional PV capacity over the next 5 years.

PV and Global Warming
When the American Museum of Natural History and the Environmental Defense Fund assembled an exhibition on Global Warming and Climate Change, they asked SDA to power it with solar electricity. SDA designed a utility-grade PV power system which could be easily assembled and taken down to travel with the exhibition as it makes its four-year coast-to-coast US tour, finishing at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. in 1996.

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