US companies Aerojet and Solar Power, Inc. yesterday announced they had inked an agreement to add an additional 2.4 megawatts to the single-axis tracker solar panel based solar farm currently installed at Aerojet’s Sacramento, California site.
By expanding the system to six megawatts, the installation will be the largest single-site industrial solar farm in California and one of the largest in the USA.
Commenting on the expansion, California Governor Schwarzenegger said, “The addition of this large-scale solar project is further evidence that reliable, renewable and pollution-free technology is here to stay. And this project is great news for California because it will help us meet our ambitious renewable energy and environmental goals, lead to more homes and businesses powered by sunshine and create new jobs in the clean-tech industry.”
The additional array will utilize 11,712 SPI 205 solar panels mounted on eight tracking arrays. When the project is completed, the six megawatt solar farm will occupy more than 40 acres of the Aerojet site, utilize 22 tracking arrays and 29,344 SPI 205 watt photovoltaic modules.
Installation of the 2.4 megawatt system addition is expected to be completed in April 2010. During its first year of use, the Aerojet system will offset over 6,000 tons of carbon dioxide, 23.8 tons of sulphur dioxide and approximately 9.3 tons of nitrogen oxide that would have otherwise been produced using coal fired power production.
The first-year of clean energy production will be equivalent to offsetting 11,825,814 automobile miles driven or the planting 1,396,423 trees according to the companies.
