Standard Solar Activates Solar Roof At Rockville Ice Rink
Nov 19, 2010 13:13 - 1 Comment
Photo from Wilkinson Shein
Yesterday Standard Solar activated the new 701 Kilowatt Solar Energy System on top of the Rockville Ice Arena. Rockville Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio, Councilmember Bridget Newton, and Karen McManus from Congressman Van Hollen’s office attended along with more than 60 other people celebrating one of the largest single rooftop solar energy systems in Maryland.
Tony Clifford, Standard Solar CEO, Malcolm Woolf, Director, Maryland Energy Administration, Stuart Schooler, Managing Member, The Maven Group. Photo from Wilkinson Shein.
Tony Clifford, Standard Solar CEO, emphasized how such solar systems can solve many of our dire energy problems on the East Coast.
I’m sure that most people in the audience know that Maryland is part of the most congested portion of the national utility grid system. Now the traditional way that utilities have dealt with growing demand on the east coast is to build another coal plant in the Mid-West and upgrade or add new transmission and distribution facilities to move that power to MD, DC and other jurisdictions up the East Coast. Well, about 15 years ago a lot of people started to oppose expensive and unsightly new transmission lines. I think we all know that it is a lot more difficult to site a transmission line in 2010…and it is not going to get any easier.
The real answer is to put the power sources where we consume the power – that is on rooftops and available land near to where it will be consumed. Solar electricity is inherently a source of peak power as it is produced during the day when utilities experience their peak power demands. This 700 kW solar system is certainly going to reduce the peak power demand and improve the reliability of the local distribution grid…with several hundred more such systems we will eliminate the need for a new power plant, truly improve grid reliability and have an noticeable impact on grid congestion throughout the region.
Rockville Blades, LLC, owns the arena and is an affiliate of The Maven Group. Stuart Schooler, a managing member, explained why the solar choice makes so much sense.
This was an easy business decision. Ice rinks are an energy-intensive operation. We need to help our tenants manage costs, while providing activities like skating and hockey that have a more benign impact on the environment. After all, the C&O Canal is only thick enough for skating two to three weeks per year.
The system is projected to meet about 30% of the Arena’s annual electricity needs while reducing carbon dioxide (CO2)-equivalent emissions by about 757 tons each year. A comparison to our household use helps to understand these statistics. The electricity generated by the solar system would power approximately 72 average-sized American homes for a year.
When you visit to skate, you can see the results for yourself. A large screen monitor shows how much electricity the solar panel system is producing at any given time.
We’re lucky to be able to see and monitor this large, green step forward in Rockville. The Arena’s system is a model and inspiration for all the solar possibilities available.
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this is very nice. the array will make about 881,000 kilowatt hours at a savings of over $72,000 per year in direct cost @8.2cents per kwh
It will also make 881 solar Renewable energy credits per year that should be worth roughly at present $176,000 if the array cost about $4million (~$6/watt),
After ~15 years with NO increase in electricity costs it will be completely paid for and the subsequent electricity will be completely free.
there are PV systems out there that have been online for ~40 years at present
I thought it was highly appropriate for the 3 gentlemen to be holding a hockey stick, as the PV system will help reduce CO2 emissions and help in a tiny way reduce global climate change
As a separate comment, B-EVI.net is one organization that has strated placing electric car charging stations in Maryland
Robert Winfield
to calculate PV generation
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/calculators/PVWATTS/version2/pvwattsv2.cgi