The sun rises: Solar Farm launched to brighten energy future for Cornell

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Oct 20, 2014, 07:17 ET

ITHACA, N.Y., Oct. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cornell University expanded its renewable energy portfolio as Distributed Sun, Building Energy and ABM announced they successfully launched production for Cornell's Snyder Road Solar Farm, consisting of a 2MW array on eleven acres of Cornell property in the Town of Lansing.

On Cornell's behalf, Distributed Sun and Building Energy collaborated to install 6,778 solar photovoltaic panels on a 10-acre Cornell property site adjacent to the Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport. ABM managed EPC construction. The solar photovoltaic panel array is Cornell's first large-scale solar project and is expected to produce 2.067 MW (DC) or 1.76 MW (AC), and will produce 2,388,357 kWh in year one. This is equal to reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions from 347 passenger vehicles, or offsetting CO2 emissions from electricity use from 277 homes for one year.

"This represents a significant step to advance Cornell's renewable energy portfolio," said Kyu Whang, Cornell vice president for facilities. "A Lansing solar facility aligns with the carbon reduction goals of Cornell, Tompkins County and New York State."

"Distributed Sun, Building Energy, ABM, NYSERDA and Cornell are advancing solar generation near the Ithaca campus," said Distributed Sun co-chairman Jeff Weiss, a Cornell alum. "Governor Cuomo encouraged investment and designed programs to attract capital. This Cornell project demonstrates that the state can work well with developers, investors and energy users such as Cornell to reduce carbon emissions and expand renewable output."

"We're a proud partner with Cornell," added Weiss, "and are excited for the opportunity to build on this model and complete many more projects in Ithaca, New York City and wherever the university needs electric power."

"We are pleased to work in partnership with Distributed Sun to develop the Cornell University Snyder Road Solar Farm" said Building Energy Managing Director Andrea Braccialarghe. "This project is the second investment into the mid-sized commercial solar market that we have managed in this country in order to help customers, like Cornell, to find environmentally attractive solutions and align with their carbon reduction goals."

Distributed Sun and Building Energy included 10 solar panels for Cornell's academic use. This includes physical access to manipulate the 10 panels and access to the Web-based dashboard of the array's state-of-the-art monitoring software. It is planned that energy and real-time energy use data will be publicly available on the Web as well.

About Building Energy
Building Energy is an independent producer of energy from renewable sources with a large portfolio of renewable plants in operation, construction and development, with a total pipeline in excess of 800MW in Europe, Africa, Central and North America. In South Africa, Building Energy won the contract for the biggest photovoltaic project on the African continent - 81 MW in Kathu - in the first round of the REIPP, the South African government's incentive program for the production of renewable energy. The power station is currently under construction and is expected to be in operation by August 2014. For more information, visit www.buildingenergy.it.

About Distributed Sun
Distributed Sun, LLC (D-SUN) is a solar and on-site energy services provider that develops, constructs and operates commercial solar, distributed generation and micro-grid energy projects in the United States. The Company finances the construction of solar power generating facilities through its captive solar energy investment companies (SEICs) and related finance vehicles, and provides financing and development solutions for strategic tax equity partners. D-SUN specializes in managing solar and distributed energy projects from conception to construction and through ongoing operations and maintenance. The Company has successfully completed MW-scale design/build installs, currently has operational facilities and power under construction in five states, and over 25MW of late-stage development projects currently under finance approval review. For more information, visit www.distributedsun.com.

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SOURCE Distributed Sun