Media Contact

Gary Skulnik

Director of Marketing

240-507-8880

For Immediate Release: July 29, 2015

groSolar Signs Deal to Supply Solar Power

 to Mohawk Valley Community College

 

(Oneida, NY) – Mohawk Valley Community College and groSolar jointly announced today that groSolar is developing a large-scale solar project to provide power to MVCC. The 2.8MW project is expected to replace about 35 percent of the College’s total electricity load with solar energy.

“Electricity costs have been rising and are forecast to continue to rise, and solar generation is anticipated to save MVCC about $90,000 in the first year of this partnership,” said MVCC President Randall VanWagoner. “Nearly $1 million of MVCC’s annual budget goes to electricity for our campuses. Holding this cost down positions us to better develop our workforce and our community and helps our taxpayers, our students, and their families.”

 “We are proud of this partnership with MVCC,” said Jamie Resor, CEO of groSolar. “The college is a regional leader in so many ways, and now it’s going to be a solar leader as well.”

The project is being developed on a site owned by the Rome Industrial Development Corporation, near the intersection of Old Oneida and Lowell roads in the city of Rome. groSolar expects to begin work this year, pending approval by the Rome Planning Board, and complete it in 2016. MVCC incorporates solar power training into its electrical service technology curriculum, and will partner with groSolar to further incorporate solar into its educational offerings.

When complete, the project will produce about 3,500 MWh of electricity in its first year, utilizing about 9,000 solar modules. It is partially supported by the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA), for which MVCC and groSolar jointly applied.

 

About groSolar

groSolar is an industry-leading large commercial- and utility-scale solar development, engineering, procurement, and construction firm with more than 15 years of experience. Since inception, the company has built more than 2,000 solar projects for a wide variety of customers, including government, commercial, industrial and utility. groSolar has particular expertise in building projects on top of environmentally sensitive sites such as brownfields and landfills.  In addition to solar development and construction services, groSolar also offers Operations and Management (O&M).

About MVCC

Established in 1946 to help train and educate veterans returning from World War II, Mohawk Valley Community College has evolved to become New York State’s first community college, the largest college between Syracuse and Albany, and the region’s primary provider of college education and non-credit training. The College, which spans two campuses – one in Utica and another in Rome – offers more than 90 program options for its 7,000 students. MVCC also serves more than 6,000 people through its corporate and community education programs, and its campuses welcome more than 50,000 people annually for community events.

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