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November 2, 2013 • Vol. IX • No. 22 • 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910
Inside
Copper Mountain’s Solar Secret Revealed By Lori Lovely CEG CORRESPONDENT
In 2010 Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, built a 58 MW solar plant in Boulder City, Nev., a 450-acre desert site about 40 mi. (63.4 km) southeast of Las Vegas, completing the project in less than a year at a cost of $141 million. Under the direction of First Solar, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, approximately 350 temporary construction workers installed nearly 775,000 solar panels at the Copper Mountain Facility. The panels convert sunlight into enough renewable electricity to power more than 17,000 average homes annually. That power, along with power from Sempra’s nearby 10 MW El Dorado Solar plant, is sold to Pacific Gas & Electric under separate
John Deere Flies to Moore’s Aid. ..8
Felling to Auction Off Pink Trailer...32
see SOLAR page 56
Under the direction of First Solar, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, approximately 350 temporary construction workers installed nearly 775,000 solar panels at the Copper Mountain Facility.
CEG Archival ConExpo ’93 Coverage…38
Table of Contents ............4 Crawler Loaders & Dozers ..................................21-26 California ..................33-35 Paving Section ........41-49 Business Calendar ........52 Auction Section ......52-59 Advertisers Index ..........58
ELFA Q4 Update U.S. Department of Labor Predicts Modest Publishes New Hiring Rules Improvement On Sept. 24, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs published two new rules in the Federal Register, requiring contractors and subcontractors on federal construction projects to take steps to improve hiring of veterans and individuals with disabilities. Both rules will take effect on March 14, 2014. One rule updates the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act, which prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment against protected veterans, and requires these employers to take affirmative action to recruit, hire, promote, and retain
these veterans. VEVRAA protects disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, active duty wartime or campaign badge veterans, and Armed Forces service medal veterans. The VEVRAA rule requires contractors and subcontractors to: • Use one of two methods to establish annual hiring benchmarks for protected veterans. • Maintain records related to their benchmark for three years, allowing them to assess success of their outreach and recruitment for veterans over time. • Invite applicants to self-identify as a protected veteran prior to making a job see RULES page 12
Investment in equipment and software is expected to grow 3.3 percent in 2013, according to the Q4 update to the 2013 Equipment Leasing & Finance U.S. Economic Outlook released Oct. 8 by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation. Equipment and software investment slowed in the second quarter, but the report predicts modest improvement in the second half of the year, depending on the outcome of the current fiscal policy debates. Growth is expected to be mixed, with some sectors outperforming others. The report, which is focused on the $725 billion equipment leasing and finance industry, forecasts equipment investment and capital spending in the United States and evalusee ELFA page 54