Pilkington North America Inc. — a Toledo, Ohio-based manufacturer and marketer of safety glass for both buildings and cars — is set to install a 250-kilowatt (kW) ground-mounted solar energy system atop a former brownfield in Toledo.

The glass maker will partner with Hull & Associates Inc., an Ohio company that has specialized in the redevelopment of brownfields, waste management, industrial applications and energy and environmental engineering for over a quarter century.

Dubbed the Northwood Solar Energy Facility, the project will incorporate solar energy modules supplied by First Solar, the country’s largest manufacturer of thin-film solar energy panels. The $1.5 million site is being financed partly by a $700,000 Ohio Energy Office grant made possible by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. If all goes as scheduled, the Northwood solar energy plant should be operational by February 2011 and supply around 12 percent of Pilkington’s Ohio Research and Development Facility energy needs each year.

Aside from the State Energy Program, there are a number of energy-related incentive programs in Ohio suited for both home and business owners. The AEP Ohio Commercial Custom Project Rebate Program, for instance, provides rebates to residential and commercial customers who install energy-efficient refrigerators, lighting, lighting controls/sensors, chillers, furnaces, boilers, heat pumps, central air conditioners, CHP/co-generation, heat recovery, processing and manufacturing equipment. That’s a mouthful to remember. Find an easily read complete list of Ohio’s clean energy incentives here.