Salt Lake City plans nation’s largest rooftop solar array
A solar installation planned for Salt Lake City’s Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center will have 2.6 megawatts of capacity – enough to make it the nation’s largest rooftop array. At present, the biggest rooftop solar power system is located at a FedEx distribution center in New Jersey.
More than bragging rights are at stake for the Utah city, though: The Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau announced Wednesday that the Salt Palace would host the National Association of Home Builders’ 2011 Green Building Conference. The solar installation played a role in the NAHB’s decision to convene in Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
“Now the spigot is going to start opening, and we are going to get more and more of these conventions,” SLCVB president Scott Beck was quoted as saying.
Local news site KSL.com notes that Salt Lake City receives about 300 days per year of sunshine, making it nearly ideal for solar installations. The Salt Palace’s array, Utah Clean Energy executive director Sarah Wright predicted, “will start moving solar development in Utah and it will put Utah on the map.
