Solar panel to be put on Weinstein Center

University of Richmond will have a 204-kilowatt solar photovoltaic array installed on the roof of the Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness, according to a university press release from Jan. 15.

The solar array, which will be installed and owned by Secure Futures, will be able to produce more than 226,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which equates to the average annual electricity usage of 21.5 American homes or one residence hall, according to a university press release. The array could offset the emission of more than 344,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the report.

David Hale, Richmond’s vice president for business and finance, called the project opportunistic for Richmond, because Secure Futures, a growing solar development company, initiated the original conversation between the two entities in summer 2014.

Installation is scheduled to begin July 2015, and the university expects the array will begin producing energy before the start of the 2015 fall semester.

The Richmond-Secure Futures partnership will be the first under Virginia’s Power Purchase Agreement Pilot Program, which former Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law March 2013. The PPA Pilot Program allows a third-party financer, such as Secure Futures, to own the solar equipment, while the customer, such as Richmond, purchases the energy at a fixed rate, according to Secure Futures’ explanation of the program.

Under the PPA Pilot Program, Secure Futures will build, maintain and own the solar array, tax benefits included, and Richmond will buy the energy at set rate over a 20-year period, according to the university’s press release.

Originally, Richmond wanted to purchase the power at a marginally higher rate, but because of the fixed rate and the potential for increased energy costs, Hale said he thought the deal would end up being cost neutral for the university, he said.

“Because [the project] was cost neutral, and because it delivered this educational value, and contributed to our commitment to reducing our emissions, and does kind of have this symbolic element to it – those were all the reasons [that Richmond moved forward with the project]," Hale said.

Hale could not disclose installation prices because of contract agreements with Secure Futures, he said.

In addition to the aforementioned reasons, Emilie Rex, Richmond’s sustainability manager, said she believed the array would offer new hands-on opportunities for students.

“As an institution of higher education, obviously we really want it to be this hands-on, rich site for learning on campus,” Rex said.

“It’s a great source of data. It’s a great case study in renewable energy. So there are all kinds of opportunities for working with it,” she said

Richmond has previously explored other solar energy opportunities. In 2011, Richmond installed three solar panels on the side of a University Forest Apartment, which, according to the university, produces about half the energy an average university apartment uses over the course of a year.

The installation of this new solar array is, using Hale’s words, a “visible example” of Richmond’s commitment to its long-term sustainability goal: “to achieve a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020, and complete carbon neutrality by 2050.”

Contact reporter Jack Nicholson at jack.nicholson@richmond.edu