Standard Solar Installs Solar Panels to Catholic University
Standard Solar, Inc. last month completed installation of 294 kilowatts of solar panels on four buildings of The Catholic University of America's Washington, D.C., campus, which is now the largest solar photovoltaic system in the metro Washington, D.C., area in terms of electricity produced.
The university signed a long-term agreement with Washington Gas Energy Services to purchase electricity generated by the system.
From the initial phases of the installation, Catholic University incorporated teaching moments into its new alternative energy curriculum. Under the guidance of associate professor Scott A. Mathews, the School of Engineering will continue to conduct tours to the top of the Flather Hall dormitory to see how the panels and related equipment generate electricity.
The four arrays consist of 1,088 3-by-6-foot panels on the roofs of the Raymond A. DuFour Athletic Center, the academic building Aquinas Hall, and Gibbons Hall and Flather Hall dormitories. It will produce about 340,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year and result in 294 fewer tons of carbon dioxide being emitted annually. The avoided emissions will be the equivalent of reducing the use of 30,300 gallons of gasoline in 2010.
The solar energy produced will supply about 10 percent of the electricity needed to meet Washington, D.C.'s renewable electricity requirement in 2010. The Clean and Affordable Energy Act of 2008 calls for more solar energy each year through 2020.