27151102
One megawatt of energy may not sound like much, but, when produced by a solar energy plant, it’s an incredible amount in terms of the environment.
One to 1.4 MWs is enough to power about 200 homes for a year. Not coincidentally, this is the predicted output of the newly announced Exelon Epuron Solar Center. Stationed at the Navy Yard, the $8 to $12 million project is funded by Epuron and, according to the company, will have the same impact on air quality as planting 8,793 trees annually.
April 29, Mayor Michael Nutter announced through the city’s economic development agency, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., a long-term lease with Epuron was approved three weeks ago to build on the site the latter had been looking at since October. The renewable energy development company will create the solar energy plant on a brownfield, land that has the possible presence of hazardous pollutants and can make traditional building difficult, at the Navy Yard.
Epuron officials said specifics have yet to be determined, but, according to Peter Alyanakian, business developer at the company that expanded to Philadelphia from Germany in 2006, once ground breaks the project should take eight to 12 weeks to complete. It will bring an undetermined number of temporary construction jobs to the area, although nothing permanent.
The plant will encompass about eight acres on the brownfield and its 5,500 solar panels will stand about three-and-a-half feet off the ground. Alyanakian said panel size also is in the works, but each could very likely measure three-by-five feet.
Keeping with the theme of renewal and reuse, the Navy Yard was chosen in part because its brownfield’s limited uses and this was a way to make the land vital once more, Alyanakian said.
"That made it an ideal location," he said. "We like to locate these kinds of projects on areas that have low value and can’t be developed. The concept of using a brownfield to produce renewable energy hits with the state’s goal of transforming Pennsylvania from a coal-producing state into a state producing renewable energy."
"Solar energy is a good thing," Bob Wendelgass, national deputy director for environmental group Clean Water Action, said. "As far as we’re concerned, we’d love to see more development like this."
Wendelgass also added the solar plant construction is particularly environment friendly.
"When you do any sort of construction work, you have to be careful there’s no runoff into the water, but compared to any other energy project, there’s virtually no negatives associated with solar-energy plants."
So far, the southeastern tip is adding to the turnaround. Epuron, in partnership with PECO’s parent company, Exelon, is building another installation in Bucks County that will feature about 17,000 solar panels. When combined with the Navy Yard project, it will equal the largest solar panel installation on the East Coast.
As the earth is depleted of natural resources like coal and oil, other natural resources are being used: Solar, where light is converted to electrical energy; wind, which takes kinetic force and converts it to energy; and biomass, which uses plant material and agricultural waste for an energy source.
"With the cost of fossil fuels continuing to rise, renewable energy technologies like solar, wind and biomass are becoming increasingly attractive and cost-competitive," Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty said in a release. "[Exelon Epuron Solar Center’s] innovative solar project will take land that has sat idle and turn it into an asset for the Commonwealth, creating energy, jobs and a stable, reliable supply of electricity to serve our families and businesses."
Epuron — who signed a 20-year agreement with Exelon — will finance and create the solar energy to be sold to PJM Interconnection, which coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity. The latter will sell it to companies like Exelon that will, in turn, release it for use and sale to utility companies like PECO, that will spread it out to consumers across a power grid. Efforts like this also reflect the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, which mandates utility companies provide a portion of electricity to consumers from renewable sources by ’11. PECO is projecting the requirement will raise rates up to 20 percent, but solar power offers more predictable rates and the new development may help offset the spike in consumer costs.
"The system will be one of the largest in the country and is the result of a successful partnership between Exelon Generation, PIDC and the Epuron team, and a major step towards energy independence and greenhouse gas reduction," Arndt Lutz, Epuron general manager, said in a release. "Epuron is excited about this. [It will] launch utility-scale solar power plants in Pennsylvania and the entire eastern U.S."
Nutter praised the project and its efforts to take space otherwise not useful for development and turn it into something that will aid the environment.
"I am so pleased that this project is transforming environmentally marginal lands into a new and sustainable form of energy for this city," he said in the release. "Economic development does not have to get in the way of environmental progress."
Contact Staff Writer Caitlin Meals at cmeals@southphillyreview.come or ext. 117.
