Solar Power World

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Beginning in June, Yosemite National Park will install a large-scale solar panel project at El Portal that will accommodate a 539-kilowatt photovoltaic generation system with $4.4 million received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Once built, this will be the largest grid-connected photovoltaic system in the National Park System.  Upon completion of the project, the park will double the electricity produced through renewable energy for the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service, which consists of 58 sites.

The rooftop and shade structure mounted solar panels, to be installed beginning this summer at the El Portal Maintenance Complex, are expected to generate approximately 800,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually.  This will result in almost a 12 percent savings on electricity purchased off the grid.

El Portal, the park’s administrative center, was chosen as the location for the solar panels based on the high amount of direct sunlight the site receives. This $4.4 million project, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is a design-build contract and was awarded to Paragon Industrial Applications of Atascadero, California.

The solar panels will be installed on the roofs of existing buildings and on newly constructed shade structures in which government vehicles will be parked under.  At 13 cents per kilowatt hour, the park is projecting a savings of up to $104,000 per year.  The construction is slated to begin in June 2010.

www.nps.gov/yose