Standard Solar, a full service solar contractor and a Solar Power World Top 400 Contractor, a
nnounced the construction of a 2.5 megawatt solar photovoltaic system for Cecil County Public Schools. The project is currently under construction and projected to be completed by year end. It will feature multiple solar panel arrays that will help reduce the school system’s energy costs. The installation site will also be the site of a solar celebration being held tomorrow-Thursday, October 16th at 1:30PM. Cecil County and Delegate David Rudolph, will attend to commemorate the County and school board’s commitment to solar.
“It was my pleasure to work with Cecil County Public Schools, Standard Solar, SunEdison and the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) to bring this project to a reality and to secure nearly $100,000 in funding for the project through the MEA,” said Delegate Rudolph.
The Cecil County Public Schools site will feature more than 7,500 solar panels which will be installed in a ground mounted array at the Cecil County School of Technology in North East, MD. The system will produce up to 2.5 megawatts direct current. This is equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions of 4 tons of carbon dioxide, or 3,851 pounds of coal burned, or 1.3 tons of waste sent to landfills. The system will provide approximately 92 percent of Cecil County’s Board of Education’s six building electricity load.
The Cecil County solar array project was developed and is being installed by Standard Solar. SunEdison will provide the financing via a power purchase agreement. The MEA is providing a $98,000 grant to help offset the cost of interconnecting the solar system to the electrical grid. More generally, the Maryland legislature and Governor Martin O’Malley have created financial, net metering and other incentives that allow counties, municipalities and other entities to reduce their electricity costs by installing solar systems. These efforts were implemented in order to help the State of Maryland realize its Renewable Portfolio Standard goal of 20 percent renewable energy generation by 2022.
“This project marks Cecil County Board of Education’s commitment to furthering the advancement of solar energy and we are honored to take part in this event recognizing the progress in bringing this commitment to reality,” said Standard Solar CEO Tony Clifford