December 24, 2004—Green Mountain Energy Company’s BJ’s Solar in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, provided the backdrop for Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell as he signed the landmark Clean Energy Portfolio Standard law.
Green Mountain Energy Solar was the first commercial-scale solar electric power generating facility built in Pennsylvania in response to consumer demand for renewable electricity under the Commonwealth’s “UtilityChoice” program.
The 50-kilowatt photovoltaic (solar) panel array was dedicated in April 1999 on Earth Day. At the time, it was the largest solar array in Pennsylvania.
The solar array is affixed to the roof of a B.J.’s Wholesale Club in Conshohocken, a suburb of Philadelphia. Five hundred two-foot by three-foot panels convert energy from the sun’s rays into pollution-free electricity. B.J.’s also purchases Green Mountain Energy electricity for the store.
Since 1999, Green Mountain Energy Solar has produced an average 100 megawatt-hours of pollution-free power annually. That’s equal to the amount of electricity used each year by about ten average Pennsylvania homes.
Green Mountain Energy Company pioneered the retail market for cleaner and renewable energy in Pennsylvania and has been continuously serving customers in Pennsylvania longer than any other renewable energy supplier, according to the company.
Customers of Green Mountain Energy Company in the northeast offset more than 32,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2003, and, says the company, that’s like taking more than 5,600 cars off the road for a year.
Customers of Green Mountain Energy Company helped bring about the development of the first utility-scale wind power facility built in Pennsylvania: the 10.4 megawatt Green Mountain Energy Wind Farm in Garrett, Pa; as well as the 30-kilowatt Green Mountain Energy Solar at Pittsburgh, and the 52-kilowatt Green Mountain Energy Solar at Southern New Jersey in Deptford, NJ.
For more information, contact Green Mountain.
