JAN. 21, 2015 — The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) offers hearty congratulations to Facilities & Services — and the Illinois student body — after F&S announced on Jan. 20 that it has finalized agreements to begin installing a 5.87-megawatt solar farm on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus in Spring 2015.
“Facilities & Services and the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) are to be congratulated for making one of the nation’s largest university solar farms become a reality,” said Professor Evan DeLucia, iSEE’s Director. “This project demonstrates the campus commitment to sustainability, and it is my hope that this is the first of many projects that will help the University achieve the smallest possible carbon footprint.”
The 20.8-acre farm is expected to produce 7.86 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) in its first year, accounting for about 2 percent of campus’ electrical demand.
“This ambitious project will catapult our campus into the top 10 solar campuses in the U.S., and represents an important first step in powering our campus with renewable energy sources,” said Professor Ben McCall, iSEE Associate Director for Campus Sustainability. “While Facilities & Services deserves the lion’s share of the credit for successfully bringing this complicated project to fruition, it is important to mention that this project has been enabled in part by a significant financial contribution from the Student Sustainability Committee.
“This highlights the fact that our student body is serious about tackling climate change through concrete actions on our campus.”
Many more details about the farm can be found in the full news release from F&S here.