VA Hospitals to Get Solar Power

Via GetSolar’s blog (republished with permission):

Judging from recent announcements, the Department of Veterans Affairs is aiming for a solar-powered future.

On November 20, the VA announced plans to install a solar photovoltaic (PV) system at a facility of the West Texas VA Health Care System. And today, via the Phoenix Business Journal, we learned that VA hospitals in Arizona, California and Nevada will also host solar PV systems over the coming year.

The West Texas system will be installed in the employee parking lot atop 230-foot long car ports, and is expected to produce over 240,000 kWh annually — about 7 percent of the facility’s annual electricity usage. The other solar projects, to be installed at VA facilities in Phoenix and Tucson — as well as at unnamed facilities in California and Nevada — will together amount to 1.7 megawatts of installed solar capacity. That’s enough oomph to power about 3,600 homes. What’s more, the projects are expected to result in the creation of 60 jobs in the three states.

REC Solar, a solar integrator based in San Luis Obispo, CA, was chosen to do the installation. (You can learn more about REC Solar on their GetSolar profile.)