By El Paso Electric —
El Paso Electric announced this week that it has awarded a contract for
the construction and installation of a 15.4kW (AC) photo-voltaic (PV)
system at its Van Horn Customer Service Office to begin in early July
2013.
The PV facility, which will have an estimated annual
output of 33,141 kWh, will be mounted on elevated structures at the
Customer Service office located at 207 West Second Street.
The
PV system will consist of 80 CentroSolar Poly-Crystalline E250 panels. A
monitoring system at the PV facility will allow EPE to measure the
performance of each photovoltaic module to maximize solar power
harvesting.
The elevated structures will consist of a closed
sealed roof which will protect the mounted PV equipment. The
construction of the project was awarded to Solar Solutions, Inc. which
is a solar installer in the region.
The PV system is expected
to be completed and producing electricity by October 2013; the
generation from this system will be enough to power five to seven houses
throughout the year.
“The installation of the 15.4kW (AC) PV
system demonstrates El Paso Electric’s continued commitment to include
solar energy in our generation mix,†said Rocky Miracle, Senior Vice
President of Corporate Planning and Development at El Paso Electric. “We
continue to look forward to future solar projects and the opportunity
for education and the growth of renewable energy technologies in our
community and within EPE’s service territory.â€
El Paso Electric
currently has 47 MWs of solar power in its generation mix and recently
secured an additional 50 MWs of solar power that should be online by
2014. Within a year, 5 percent of El Paso Electric’s dedicated
generation, which includes long-term purchase power agreements, will be
from solar.
