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Eastfield College breaks ground for solar array
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Lydia Miller, market manager for Green Mountain Energy, Dr. Jean Conway, interim president of Eastfield College, and Andrew Lowery, area manager for North Texas and Oklahoma for Standard Renewable Energy, break ground Wednesday for the solar array at Eastfield College.
From Staff Reports
To commemorate Earth Day 2009, Eastfield College in Mesquite and Texas-based Green Mountain Energy Company broke ground Wednesday for the school’s new solar array. The 4.4 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system will be ground-mounted and will be used as a teaching tool for the school.
Green Mountain donated the solar panel system to the two-year community college that primarily serves the eastern corridor of Dallas County. It will be the first PV solar system to power a school in the Dallas County Community College District.
The solar array will be incorporated into the learning curriculum of several classes and help educate students about the benefits of solar energy and the technical aspects of installing an array. A Web site will also be linked to the array and display real-time energy output data.
The Green Mountain Energy system at Eastfield College will be 4.4 kilowatts and will be installed on the campus grounds near the swimming pool. It is expected to produce over 8,500 kilowatt hours of electricity per year by converting sunlight into electricity. The solar array will consist of 24 solar panels and will offset almost 11,500 pounds of carbon dioxide each year. That’s the equivalent of planting nearly 700 trees or not driving more than 12,500 miles annually.
Green Mountain funded Eastfield College’s new solar array through its Big Texas Sun Club, a program in which Green Mountain’s Texas customers can choose to support solar energy installations in Texas by paying an additional $5 on their monthly Green Mountain Energy electric bill.This is the 17th solar project built in Texas thanks to the Big Texas Sun Club. With this installation, Green Mountain’s Big Texas Sun Club will be responsible for creating more than 155 kW of new solar energy capacity in Texas since 2002.
“I would like to thank Green Mountain Energy Company for their wonderful gift to Eastfield College. This solar array attests to their investment in higher education and a cleaner earth, and is a tangible example of Eastfield's commitment to educate the community in a sustainable venue,” Conway said.
The solar panels will be installed by Houston-based Standard Renewable Energy. This will be SRE’s 7th solar array installation for Green Mountain Energy Company and the Big Texas Sun Club. The 4.4 kW solar array is expected to be completed this summer.
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