In Las Vegas, everything is on a grander scale - so it should come as no surprise the gambling capital of the world will soon be home to one of the world’s largest rooftop solar systems.
NRG Energy this week announced plans to install a 6.2MW installation on top of the Mandalay Bay Resort Convention Centre. At peak production the array should produce enough electricity to meet around a fifth of the building’s energy demand, while reducing pressure on the grid at the hottest time of the day.
“The new 20,000 panel solar rooftop array at Mandalay Bay will effectively enable the resort to lock in a substantial component of its energy costs at a very competitive rate,” said Tom Doyle, president and chief executive of NRG Solar, in a statement.
“Our expectation is that other corporations will follow thought-leaders like MGM Resorts to protect our planet.”
Once the project is completed, Mandalay Bay will buy the electricity generated through a power purchase agreement (PPA).
The system is the latest in a series of environmental measures taken by parent company MGM Resorts under its Green Advantage sustainability initiative.
Over the past five years, the company has reduced its energy intensity by more than 12 per cent and has saved more than 2.5 billion gallons (9.5 billion litres) of water.
The news comes as US developer SolarCity announced it has started fitting 3.4MW of solar rooftop systems at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
The project will see solar systems installed on more than 600 military homes as part of the company’s SolarStrong programme to power 120,000 military residences.
Similar schemes are under way at bases in Texas, Hawaii, Los Angeles and Colorado, contributing to the Department of Defense’s target to meet a quarter of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2025.
In other solar industry news, the investment arm of insurance giant Aviva has acquired a 12.3MW portfolio of residential solar systems built on 4,000 UK homes from Ecovision Renewable Energy Ltd.
Aviva Investors will collect revenue generated through the feed-in tariff subsidy scheme, while residents continue to save money on their electricity bills.
“This acquisition continues the expansion of our activities in the UK renewable sector and is in line with our strategy of investing in high quality infrastructure assets with attractive yields,” said Ian Berry, fund manager of infrastructure and renewable energy at Aviva Investors, in a statement.
“As institutions continue to look towards assets that offer secure and long-dated income streams in order to meet their liabilities, we believe infrastructure opportunities such as this offer the potential to meet these needs.”
