By Don Albinger, Vice President, Renewable Solutions, Johnson Controls
If I said the words “solar farm” to you, I bet I can guess what picture would pop into your mind’s eye: a football field-sized array of solar panels permanently attached to a patch of ground somewhere in the boondocks. Am I right?
I’ll wager that the last thing you would think of is those same solar panels mounted so they’re completely portable and all parked in the middle of an urban neighborhood. But hang onto that mental image for a few months – because that’s exactly what we’re about to start building in Milwaukee.
Last week, the body that governs technical colleges in Wisconsin gave the green light for Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) to work with Johnson Controls to build what will be the state’s biggest solar installation. The $6.9 million solar education farm will be located on 32 acres of MATC-owned land where the transmitter for the public television station the school operates is located.
The photovoltaic (PV) panels will generate 411 kilowatts of electricity – power that will be used to run the television transmitter, making it the first public television station transmitter in America to be removed from the traditional electricity grid.
When it’s completed, the solar farm may also be the first fully portable solar PV system in the nation. The solar panels themselves, as well as fences and solar trackers, will all be mounted on concrete pads. Nearly 2,500 solar panels will be arrayed in eight different configurations. This flexibility and portability will dramatically enhance one of the facility’s key functions: a training center for technicians, designers, site assessors, electricians, salespeople and other professionals building careers in the renewable energy industry.
The growing solar market promises to create demand for thousands and thousands of these jobs in the coming years – jobs that must be filled by trained and experienced workers if our communities, and our nation as a whole, are to reap the economic benefits of the growth in renewable energy. This project promises to expand educational partnerships between MATC and other Milwaukee-area institutions of higher learning – as well as K-12 schools that will be able to give students and teachers the opportunity to visit the site, either in person or virtually.
All this is certain to make the project a model for other colleges and universities around the country: solar facilities located not in the middle of nowhere, but on under-utilized pieces of land much closer to where the electricity they generate is needed.
Efficiency Now. It’s never been more important.
By Don Albinger, Vice President, Renewable Solutions, Johnson Controls
If I said the words “solar farm” to you, I bet I can guess what picture would pop into your mind’s eye: a football field-sized array of solar panels permanently attached to a patch of ground somewhere in the boondocks. Am I right?
I’ll wager that the last thing you would think of is those same solar panels mounted so they’re completely portable and all parked in the middle of an urban neighborhood. But hang onto that mental image for a few months – because that’s exactly what we’re about to start building in Milwaukee.
Last week, the body that governs technical colleges in Wisconsin gave the green light for Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) to work with Johnson Controls to build what will be the state’s biggest solar installation. The $6.9 million solar education farm will be located on 32 acres of MATC-owned land where the transmitter for the public television station the school operates is located.
The photovoltaic (PV) panels will generate 411 kilowatts of electricity – power that will be used to run the television transmitter, making it the first public television station transmitter in America to be removed from the traditional electricity grid.
When it’s completed, the solar farm may also be the first fully portable solar PV system in the nation. The solar panels themselves, as well as fences and solar trackers, will all be mounted on concrete pads. Nearly 2,500 solar panels will be arrayed in eight different configurations. This flexibility and portability will dramatically enhance one of the facility’s key functions: a training center for technicians, designers, site assessors, electricians, salespeople and other professionals building careers in the renewable energy industry.
The growing solar market promises to create demand for thousands and thousands of these jobs in the coming years – jobs that must be filled by trained and experienced workers if our communities, and our nation as a whole, are to reap the economic benefits of the growth in renewable energy. This project promises to expand educational partnerships between MATC and other Milwaukee-area institutions of higher learning – as well as K-12 schools that will be able to give students and teachers the opportunity to visit the site, either in person or virtually.
All this is certain to make the project a model for other colleges and universities around the country: solar facilities located not in the middle of nowhere, but on under-utilized pieces of land much closer to where the electricity they generate is needed.
Efficiency Now. It’s never been more important.
Read more at: http://yourenergyforum.com/blog/2009/10/when_we_build_it_they_will_lea.html.