14 DAY TRIAL // An ambitious project to put a total of 733 megawatts of photovoltaics (PV) on warehouse rooftops across 28 states in the U.S. has just received a $1.4 billion (€1.05 billion) conditional loan from the Department of Energy (DOE).
Dubbed ‘Project Amp’, the solar generation project would offer as much power as that generated by all the photovoltaics installed in the US in 2010.
In fact, it is expected to generate enough clean, renewable electricity to power over 88,000 homes and is expected to avoid approximately 580,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.
Moreover, Project Amp is also expected to create at least 1,000 construction jobs over a four-year period, and the equivalent of more than 10,000 full-year jobs.
“This is a remarkable project that will end up being the largest rooftop solar deployment in U.S. history,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
“The project not only funds jobs across the country and makes solar power more cost competitive, it can also be a model for other rooftop solar projects of this magnitude and help the U.S. restore its leadership in the solar industry,” he added.
The solar panel arrays will be built on approximately 750 existing Prologis warehouses and industrial buildings, with the power produced to be sold to local utilities through NRG Energy. The total project size is of about $2.6 billion.
"NRG believes rooftop solar is a smart choice for industrial, commercial and residential property owners in markets around the country, and this program provides the commercial scale that will bring the benefits of solar power to customers across the country," said Tom Doyle, president of NRG Solar, NRG's solar subsidiary.
"This program will nearly double the amount of grid-connected solar online in the United States today and make another positive contribution to cleaner air and a healthy environment," he concluded.