SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) has announced it has commenced construction on a 2.8 megawatt solar power project for eight schools in the Montgomery County Public School system in the U.S state of Maryland.
The solar panel installations will collectively generate enough electricity each year to power the equivalent of more than 260 homes and will deliver approximately USD $200,000 in savings annually. Completion of the first stage is targeted for by the end of this year.
Ongoing operation and maintenance of the facilities will be performed by SunEdison Services.
“We are excited about this project because it does more than just bring a substantial amount of renewable energy into the county; it also becomes a real-life science lab where our students can see solar energy at work,” said Dr. Andrew Zuckerman, chief operating officer for Montgomery County Public Schools.
This is SunEdison’s second consecutive project with the Montgomery County Public School system.
The company’s other school projects elsewhere in the USA include solar for Rosedale Union School District and Rialto Unified School District. In January this year, SunEdison was named exclusive solar provider for the 250 member school districts of California’s School Project for Utility Rate Reduction.
“SunEdison has a long and successful track record helping school districts across the U.S. save money with solar,” said Steve Raeder, SunEdison’s managing director of its Eastern U.S. commercial and industrial business.
Closer to home, the company has also carried out a number of solar projects for schools in Australia.
In other recent SunEdison news, last week the company announced the completion of two solar power systems totaling 1.28 megawatts AC.
Constructed and financed by SunEdison, the arrays were developed for the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities’ (Minnesota) waste water treatment plant and are expected to generate enough power to provide 10 percent of the plant’s annual electricity needs. A 1 megawatt solar energy system was built for the plant’s liquid treatment facility and another 280 kilowatt PV array for the on-site sludge drying facility.
