Largest Solar Project on East Coast Planned for Pennsylvania
Friday, September 3rd 2010 8:45 PM
By GetSolar Staff.
Construction of the East Coast's largest solar installation will begin in Pennsylvania by the end of the year, the Lancaster New Era reports.
Thanks to state grant announced this week, construction of the 4,500-panel solar farm in East Drumore Township, Pennsylvania can move forward. The project developer, Community Energy, is receiving $1 million from the state government to help defray the $65 million cost of the project.
While the solar farm may have a substantial price tag, it will produce up to 15 megawatts of power - enough energy for between 3,600 and 4,500 homes.
The New Era notes that siting of the project was somewhat contentious. The solar array is slated to be built on a farm in Lancaster County, and the county's planning commission had recommended that the project be disapproved. It will occupy valuable farmland until at least 2039.
Yet the community determined that the benefits of clean, renewable solar power outweighed the downside of taking up land. As solar power proliferates, more communities are going to have to choose between solar installations and open space - but solar's benefits are hard to ignore.
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Construction of the East Coast's largest solar installation will begin in Pennsylvania by the end of the year, the Lancaster New Era reports.
