An ambitious project is underway at William Paterson University, a New Jersey public university. Solar arrays are going up on roofs of buildings and on elevated structures above parking lots. The project is the result of a 15 year deal in which SunDurance Energy installs the solar panels at no upfront cost to WPU, and WPU buys the electricity at below market rates for the next 15 years.
When completed the installation will generate 3.5 megawatts of electricity, making it the largest solar power project at a university in the United States. The university expects to save $4.3 million in energy costs over the duration of the contract.
So I went to check it out and take some pictures.
Elevated solar panels installed above parking lot:
From another angle:
Looks like some sort of transformer. It was humming, so the juice is flowing:
Under a set of panels, looking up:
Installing more elevated panels in a different parking lot:
They are going up all around campus, it seems. In the school's science building they'll eventually have a kiosk showing how much electricity is being generated in real time. I'd like to have a look at that sometime!
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Posted by Sir Four at 2:04pm Jun 26 '10
Solar Installation at WPU, Largest in the Nation - Sir Four 2:04pm Jun 26 '10
