J. Alcala1, A. Allbee[1] and A. Pereira[2]*

‘RELAB LLC, 417 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair NJ 07042, USA

2 altPOWER, Inc, 125 Maiden Lane #308, New York City, New York 10038, USA

3 altPOWER, Inc, 125 Maiden Lane #308, New York City, New York 10038, USA

Corresponding Author, anthony@altpower. com

Abstract:

This paper will look at the vast experience altPOWER has gained over the past six years working on nine BIPV projects in Manhattan. Specifically, the division of work between the various labor unions involved in a typical BIPV project will be addressed. The BIPV mandate for Battery Park City, set in 2000 accelerated BIPV installations in NYC during the first decade of the new century. With trade unions playing an integral role in the NYC construction industry, the varying designs and cutting edge nature of BIPV has led to trade concerns and division of labor issues as projects have moved into the bidding and construction phases over the course of the last 6 years. This paper will disseminate the experiences and valuable lessons learned, adding to the knowledge base of the fledgling BIPV industry in the US and around the world.

1. Introduction

As the authors of this paper discovered during research for this document, there is little written and seemingly known with regard to the distribution of labor for BIPV systems as well as standard PV systems in mature organized labor construction markets. As Greentech media has stated, “this lack of awareness poses a hurdle for BIPV adoption especially since the vast majority of installations to date have been conventional, non-integrated systems. [1] ” Thus we found that altPOWER and RELab are in a unique position: we have designed and installed a dozen BIPV projects utilizing multiple design types (i. e. canopies, spandrel PV on cassette facades, curtain walls, louver systems and skylights) in an urban market with a complex and organized labor presence.

NYC is consistently in violation of federal air quality regulations and has one of the highest rates of infant mortality due to asthma in the world for a major city. Finally, Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC focuses on sustainable infrastructure growth and has thrust the issue of clean energy generation to the forefront of policy concerns for New York City.

As a result, forward-thinking planners have embraced the use of clean technology for on-site power generation. Leading the way in this forum has been the incorporation of BIPV.

The focus of this paper is to discuss the various organized trades which will be involved with BIPV installations, how they work together and how designs and planning can make labor issues less of a concern and thus reduce barriers to the use of PV in general.

We will evaluate 5 prominent buildings in Manhattan: The Solaire, a 27 story residential tower, TriBeCa Green, a 25 story residential tower, the Helena, a 38 story residential tower located on Manhattan’s upper west side, The Verdesian, a 27 story residential tower, The Vissionaire, a 35 story residential condominium, The Millennium Tower Residences, a 35 story residential condominium, and The Riverhouse at Rockefeller Park, a 31 story 264 unit condominium tower.

Motivation for these projects comes from a greater understanding of the impact of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) on our local and global environments as well as concerns over energy security.

Yet, perhaps the greatest encouragement has come from the political leadership in New York State which has realized that by investing in distributed generation, NYC can escape the economic and safety threats of interruptions in power supply and build on the proven reliability of its electric infrastructure. More importantly, renewable generation will help to clean NYC’s air. In particular, research has shown PV to be the most reliable power source for NYC [3]. For example, on the afternoon of July 6, 1999, the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan experienced a feeder distribution circuit black out resulting in loss of life and massive economic losses. Table 1 shown below illustrates NYC’s peak demand on that day. The lower graph shows a high degree of correlation between NYC’s load and available sunshine for PV power generation on that day. Simply put, a distributed network of PV in this neighborhood may have prevented the blackout on this day.

In fact, a targeted network of PV generation may have prevented every blackout the northeast has faced in the last 5 years, including the massive August 14, 2003 blackout that placed most of the US Northeast and parts of Canada in the dark.

2.2 Incentives

Various incentives were used applied for on the above-mentioned projects. The incentives range from per watt buy-downs from grants administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), to local tax credits like the NYS Green Building Tax Credit to federal incentives through the Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Perhaps most influential to these project

examples was the Battery Park City Authority’s BIPV mandate, requiring developers to install BIPV systems equal to 5% of the building’s base power load. These programs have been critical to the development of BIPV in NYC. altPOWER partnered with the development, design and construction teams at each of the host sites presented in this paper and served as the PV design and installation leader.