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EAST DRUMORE TOWNSHIP, Pa. —
Those driving in Southern Lancaster County may want to look for the area's new source of energy.
A piece of property that's been used to harvest crops for years is now being used to harvest energy from the sun.
At one time, the land may have been used to produce beans or corn. Within a few weeks it will be producing megawatts.
"This is a 6 megawatt project. This is the largest we've done," said Pete Byron of Grosolar.
It's believed to be the largest solar farm ever built in Pennsylvania.
The solar farm is along the east side of Route 272 in southern Lancaster County.
"The site has 20,702 modules. They're Canadian Solar Modules and each module is 290 watts DC. About 18,000 of those modules are already in place," Byron said.
The solar farm is a project of Community Energy, which started construction in the third week of June.
"It should take six months to build a project of this size. We're going to do it in half the time," Byron said.
The project is built deliberately not to last. There's exactly 3,001 steel posts used to hold up the solar panels. None of the posts are sunk into the ground using concrete. Theoretically, they can easily be pulled out of the ground sometime in the future and the entire 30-acre piece of land could be used for farming.
Read more: http://www.wgal.com/news/susquehanna-valley/lancaster/Solar-farm-takes-shape-in-Lancaster-County/-/9704306/16098968/-/123gb1yz/-/index.html#ixzz2CslaGH80
WGAL 8 News
August 14, 2012
EAST DRUMORE TOWNSHIP, Pa.
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Those driving in Southern Lancaster County may want to look for the area's new source of energy. A piece of property that's been used to harvest crops for years is now being used to harvest energy from the sun. At one time, the land may have been used to produce beans or corn. Within a few weeks it will be producing megawatts.
"This is a 6 megawatt project. This is the largest we've done," said Pete Byron of Grosolar.
It's believed to be the largest solar farm ever built in Pennsylvania. The solar farm is along the east side of Route 272 in southern Lancaster County.
"The site has 20,702 modules. They're Canadian Solar Modules and each module is 290 watts DC. About 18,000 of those modules are already in place," Byron said.
The solar farm is a project of Community Energy, which started construction in the third week of June.
"It should take six months to build a project of this size. We're going to do it in half the time," Byron said.
The project is built deliberately not to last. There's exactly 3,001 steel posts used to hold up the solar panels. None of the posts are sunk into the ground using concrete. Theoretically, they can easily be pulled out of the ground sometime in the future and the entire 30-acre piece of land could be used for farming.
The cost of solar energy is going down, so it's possible more energy farms may be constructed in the future.
The cost is less than a $1 a watt. The solar units are 290-watt modules, so the panels produce roughly between $270 to $290 worth of electricity.
Once the solar farm goes online in a few weeks, it will feed enough power into the electric grid to light up close to 1,000 homes.
The power won't be going to one specific area.
Read more: http://www.wgal.com/news/susquehanna-valley/lancaster/Solar-farm-takes-shape-in-Lancaster-County/-/9704306/16098968/-/123gb1yz/-/index.html#ixzz2Csmz6eVj
The cost of solar energy is going down, so it's possible more energy farms may be constructed in the future.
The cost is less than a $1 a watt. The solar units are 290-watt modules, so the panels produce roughly between $270 to $290 worth of electricity.
Once the solar farm goes online in a few weeks, it will feed enough power into the electric grid to light up close to 1,000 homes.
The power won't be going to one specific area.
Read more: http://www.wgal.com/news/susquehanna-valley/lancaster/Solar-farm-takes-shape-in-Lancaster-County/-/9704306/16098968/-/123gb1yz/-/index.html#ixzz2Csmz6eVj
The cost of solar energy is going down, so it's possible more energy farms may be constructed in the future. The cost is less than a $1 a watt. The solar units are 290-watt modules, so the panels produce roughly between $270 to $290 worth of electricity. Once the solar farm goes online in a few weeks, it will feed enough power into the electric grid to light up close to 1,000 homes. The power won't be going to one specific area.
Source: www.wgal.com
