It costs a lot of money to keep the lights on at Sacramento International Airport. The airport’s electric bill is more than $250,000 per month and nearly $3.5 million each year. Sacramento County officials would like to see that number drop, and they think building a solar array site could help.
Currently, Sacramento County is seeking proposals to develop the site, and that includes looking for a developer or development team to design and operate the system. According to News10’s partners at the Sacramento Business Journal, there are two potential sites for the array on the north and east side of the airport property.
There’s a good chance the solar array could cut down on expenses at the airport. The business journal states that the airport is looking for 7 megawatts of generation from the power plant.
Proposals for the site are due at the end of October. In a few of weeks airport officials will be holding a pre-proposal meeting to discuss more details about the project.
For safety reasons, the proposed array would need to pass a solar glare hazard assessment from the Federal Aviation Administration. You may have seen solar panels used at other airports while flying in. They are usually pretty easy to spot from the air.
How much money can solar panels save you? It depends on the size of the solar array site and how much power it will generate. But according to briteideaenergy.com, most homeowners and business owners report that they have cut their energy bills anywhere between 50 percent and 90 percent by installing solar panels.
Related Video:
http://www.news10.net/story/news/local/sacramento-central/2014/09/30/sacramento-intl-airport-considering-solar-array/16468607/
