FEMP Focus Newsletter - October 2000
GSA Installs Large Solar Electric System at Federal Center
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has selected Pepco Energy Services, Inc., and Applied Power Corp. to install a 100-kilowatt solar electric system at the Suitland Federal Center in Suitland, MD. The Department of Energy is partially funding the installation, which began providing power to the facility's central cooling plant by September. Ground has already been broken for the system, which will include 2,800 thin-film photovoltaic modules. The project will demonstrate to government agencies and other organizations the short construction time needed in developing solar power stations.Pepco Energy Services will serve as the general contractor and project manager of the system while Applied Power Corp. will design, build, and install the equipment. The General Services Administration funded the generation station to support the Planet GSA program, the President's Million Solar Roofs Initiative, and the goals of Executive Order 13123. "This system demonstrates the General Services Administration's commitment to a cleaner tomorrow," said GSA's Anthony Costa, Assistant Regional Administrator for the Public Buildings Service in the National Capital Region. "The President has set a goal for the Federal Government of 2,000 solar energy installations by the end of this year, and the GSA is helping to make that goal a reality."
The project will showcase how quickly and easily amorphous silicon technology can meet the energy needs of many different types of commercial and industrial facilities. Unlike polycrystalline silicon technology, which has been in use for more than two decades, amorphous silicon technology is an advance cell material that performs better under high ambient temperatures and costs less to manufacture.
The PV system installation is supported in part by funding from the Department of Energy through an award from the Utility Photovoltaic Group's TEAM-UP program. Pepco Energy Services provides commercial, institutional and government customers a complete suite of integrated energy management solutions including electricity and natural gas; energy assessments; energy information systems; fuel management services; heating, ventilation and air conditioning system; lighting project financing; and energy operations and maintenance services.
For more information, contact Gary Caruso, GSA, at 202-260-4227 or
visit http://ncr.gsa.gov/.