Two recent projects show the expansion of solar energy in the Pittsburgh region - The Green Voice

Hazelwood Green was once home to the  LTV Hazelwood steel facility. When the mill closed in 1998,  the  178-acre area was designated as a contaminated brownfield site, affected  by years of industrial pollution.

But  now, Hazelwood Green, which is being converted into a mixed-use  riverfront space to house tech companies, nonprofits, and more, has the  largest solar array of its kind on the country installed on its Mill 19  building.

Completed in late  August, the array spans the Mill 19 roof at 133,000-square-feet, making  it the largest single sloped-array in the United States.

Michael Carnahan, vice president and general manager of Scalo Solar Solutions,  the Pittsburgh-based company that installed the array, claims the array  will generate about 2 megawatts (mW) of power. He adds that, over its  lifetime, the array is expected to produce enough energy to power the  equivalent of 264 homes annually, and prevent the release of CO2  emissions equal to 62.5 million pounds of coal being burned.

The array, which cost around $5 million, was made possible by a low-interest loan from the Richard K Mellon Foundation.

Carnahan  believes the project will demonstrate the value of investing in solar  power, and possibly help it expand in the region, which has been slow to  adopt wide-scale renewable energy technology.  

“Believing  that solar energy needs to be cheaper than heavily subsidized and  greenhouse gas causing fossil fuels is part of the education problem we  face in trying to promote clean energy,” says Carnahan.

The  array is not only environmentally friendly, but economical, with  Carnahan pointing out that, with the energy-cost savings, the array  should “pay for itself in about 7 years and will last for about 25  years.”

The Mill 19 array  is not the only large-scale solar project unveiled this year in the  region. On August 27, a 10,000-square-foot array solar array installed  by Scalo Solar Solutions on the roof of Global Links headquarters went  live.

The array was meant to mark the 30th anniversary of Global Links,  a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that rescues surplus medical supplies and  distributes them to needful public health facilities locally and around  the world.

"For 30 years, Global Links has helped  healthcare institutions, businesses, and the community reduce their  environmental impact through the donation of surplus and no longer  needed medical supplies, home healthcare supplies, and office  equipment,” says Angela Garcia, executive director of Global Links. “We  seek every opportunity to minimize the environmental impact of our own  operations, and our conversion to solar not only serves our energy  needs, but will serve as a model for inspiring further green energy  development in our region.”

The  array is the first cohort project of the Pennsylvania Solar Center, an  organization dedicated to transforming Pennsylvania into a leading solar  state. It was made possible through financing offered by Scalo, and  through a $150,000 grant from the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, a  nonprofit initiative that focused on projects related to renewable and  efficient energy, resource conservation, and environmental stewardship.

A  press release claims that, since being founded in 2002, the Sun Club  has donated $10 million to more than 122 projects across Texas and the  Northeast.

Mark Parsons,  vice president and general manager for Green Mountain Energy, says Sun  Club understands how “instrumental nonprofit organizations are to the  well-being of communities,” and that Global Links demonstrates how that  extends to using clean energy.

“We  commend Global Links for their model of medical surplus recovery and  donation to underserved communities, as it places equal emphasis on  supporting health improvement initiatives while promoting  environmentally sustainable practices in healthcare and beyond,” says  Parsons.

When it comes to  the nonprofit and private sectors, the expansion of solar power in the  region, it seems, is expected to continue. Carnahan says all 178 acres  of Hazelwood Green is “meant to be developed with renewable energy and  sustainability as part of its core design,” and that there are already  plans add another 1,100 solar panels in the two parking lots on the site  and on the Plaza, a public park that will be open next spring.