Solar PV Farm Launched to Brighten Energy Future for Cornell University

Cornell University expanded its renewable energy portfolio as Distributed Sun, Building Energy and ABM announced they successfully launched production for Cornell’s Snyder Road Solar PV Farm, consisting of a 2MW array on eleven acres of Cornell property in the Town of Lansing.

On behalf of Cornell University, Distributed Sun and Building Energy collaborated to install 6,778 solar photovoltaic panels on a 10-acre Cornell property site adjacent to the Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport. ABM managed EPC construction. The solar photovoltaic panel array is Cornell’s first large-scale solar project and is expected to produce 2.067 MW (DC) or 1.76 MW (AC), and will produce 2,388,357 kWh in year one. This is equal to reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions from 347 passenger vehicles, or offsetting CO2 emissions from electricity use from 277 homes for one year.

“This represents a significant step to advance Cornell’s renewable energy portfolio,” said Kyu Whang, Cornell vice president for facilities. “A Lansing solar facility aligns with the carbon reduction goals of Cornell, Tompkins County and New York State.”

“Distributed Sun, Building Energy, ABM, NYSERDA and Cornell are advancing solar generation near the Ithaca campus,” said Distributed Sun co-chairman Jeff Weiss, a Cornell alum.

Governor Cuomo encouraged investment and designed programs to attract capital. This Cornell project demonstrates that the state can work well with developers, investors and energy users such as Cornell to reduce carbon emissions and expand renewable output.

“We’re a proud partner with Cornell,” added Weiss, “and are excited for the opportunity to build on this model and complete many more projects in Ithaca, New York City and wherever the university needs electric power.”

“We are pleased to work in partnership with Distributed Sun to develop the Cornell University Snyder Road Solar PV Farm” said Building Energy Managing Director Andrea Braccialarghe.

This project is the second investment into the mid-sized commercial solar market that we have managed in this country in order to help customers, like Cornell, to find environmentally attractive solutions and align with their carbon reduction goals.

Distributed Sun and Building Energy included 10 solar panels for Cornell’s academic use. This includes physical access to manipulate the 10 panels and access to the Web-based dashboard of the array’s state-of-the-art monitoring software. It is planned that energy and real-time energy use data will be publicly available on the Web as well.

Image: Cornell University, Ho Plaza and Sage HallCC BY-SA 2.0

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