The business analytics company SAS Institute Inc. (Cary, NC), on December 17th, 2008, announced that its on-campus solar farm had started to provide energy to Progress Energy’s (Raleigh, NC) utility grid. "In less than a year this plan went from idea to reality", said SAS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jim Goodnight. "I hope people will learn from our experience that sustainable energy is within reach and makes bottom-line business sense." The utility Progress Energy Carolinas will, according to the terms of the agreement, purchase all of the energy produced by the SAS’s solar array.

"This is an important milestone for our state", said Lloyd Yates, CEO and President of Progress Energy Carolinas. "Solar power will become a more important part of the diverse energy mix we use to meet our customers’ needs, and we look forward to bringing much more renewable generation online in the months and years to come."

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,600 tons annually

Covering five acres, the 1-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) solar array was designed by SunPower Corporation (San Jose, CA) and is estimated to generate 1.7 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,600 tons annually. This is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption of more than 167,000 gallons of gasoline, the announcement concludes.

2008-12-27 | Courtesy: SAS Institute Inc. | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH