What better place to host the biggest solar energy installation at a U.S. national park than Yosemite? Tucked in a region that gets more annual sunshine than just about anywhere in the country, the California park boasts nearly perfect conditions for solar power.

Officials several days ago inaugurated the 672-kilowatt (kW) solar array, which comprises a 500-kW parking canopy for employees and visitors; a 100-kW rooftop solar array atop a warehouse; and a 72-kW wall-mounted installation (pictured above).

As we reported over a year ago, it was originally speculated that the “solar panels are expected to generate electricity at a levelized cost of about 13 cents per kilowatt hour, reducing annual electricity costs by about $104,000.” According to The Business Journal, however, those annual energy costs savings are actually projected to be closer to $50,000 — equivalent to around 12 percent of the park’s annual electricity needs.

All 2,800 solar panels were supplied by SolarWorld, a manufacturer known for making high-quality, highly efficient monocrystalline solar panels.

“The combination of harnessing California’s abundant sunlight and technology and labor provided by U.S. workers ideally suits this energy advance for Yosemite National Park,” Superintendent Don Neubacher said. “Solar panels from SolarWorld, along with the contributions of a number of other U.S.-based service firms and manufacturing enterprises, will maximize the sustainable impact on this effort to not only take care of the park but stretch the planet’s resources.”

The $4.4 million solar project was made possible thanks to a renewable energy grant via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Photo courtesy of SolarWorld.