The University of Delaware has given new meaning to the phrase “long overdue.”

Its Energy Institute is recognized as the oldest solar energy laboratory in the country, having hosted a slew of solar-power research for the past 40 years. Yet, since the beginning, UD’s solar energy lab has been powered by conventional electricity. That’s all about to change, as UD will soon make the leap from a non-solar school to one of the biggest solar-energy producers in all of Delaware.

Earlier this fall, the university began installing a solar energy system that’s capable of generating one megawatt (MW) of solar energy at peak capacity. When combined with other solar photovoltaic (PV) panels — to be installed around the University’s Newark Campus — the 1-MW system will help cut the school’s energy costs by over $30,000 each year.

Standard Solar — which has an office in Newark, DE — will cover the tab of installing the system. UD will have to invest about $90,000 of its own money to reconfigure older rooftops to be able to accomodate the new solar equipment. The university will then purchase the power from Standard Solar at a rate of 15 percent less than what the University currently pays for energy.

UD will soon have company, as other solar-powered campuses spring up across Delaware. Widener Law School’s Delaware Campus in New Castle County – which earned “Magna Cum Laude” status in a national list of top green schools —  is exploring its potential to install solar. Additionally, Wesley College in Dover will invest $2.5 million in energy system upgrades. All of the above projects were helped by a new Delaware law passed last summer requiring utility companies to receive 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025.