Federal Building Adds Solar Electric System
Submitted by Treesong on Wed, 10/20/2010 - 6:22pm.
The Senator Paul Simon Federal Building in Carbondale, IL has installed a large solar electric system on the roof of their building.
The new system consists of 3 separate arrays with 33 strings of 15 photovoltaic modules each for a total of 495 modules. The total rated capacity of this system is 101,475 watts of DC power, making it the largest system in the Southern Illinois region.
The crew finished installation of the system on Tuesday, September 28, just days before the 2010 Heartland Solar Tour. The Heartland Solar Tour, part of National Solar Tour, offers open-house tours to show how people can use solar energy and energy efficiency to reduce monthly utility bills and take action in response to climate change.
The roof of the Federal Building was formerly home to a solar hot water demonstration system. The Federal Building received funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to replace this old system with an extensive photovoltaic (PV) system. This system is expected to exceed the electricity needs of the building, with excess energy being sold to the local utility company.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Wikipedia)
- Senator Paul Simon Federal Building (U.S. General Services Administration)