SAS Solar Farm Goes Live (NC)

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http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsNAPR1340.htm

Sustainability has been a key focus in 2008 at SAS, the leader in business analytics. As the year draws to a close, the company celebrates a green milestone: its on-campus solar farm is now live and providing power to the Progress Energy utility grid. The solar farm began generating power this week.

“In less than a year this plan went from idea to reality,” said SAS CEO Jim Goodnight. “I hope people will learn from our experience that sustainable energy is within reach and makes bottom-line business sense.”

“This is an important milestone for our state,” said Lloyd Yates, CEO and President of Progress Energy Carolinas, which will purchase the energy produced by the solar array. “Solar power will become a more important part of the diverse energy mix we use to meet our customers’ needs, and we look forward to bringing much more renewable generation online in the months and years to come.”

Covering five acres, the 1-megawatt photovoltaic solar array was designed by SunPower Corporation and is estimated to generate 1.7 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,600 tons annually. This is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption of more than 167,000 gallons of gasoline.

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