Exelon and SunPower Corp. announced an agreement to utilize a former industrial site in the West Pullman neighborhood in Chicago to set up US’s largest urban solar power plant. The plant is expected to produce 10 MW of solar power once it is up and running by the end of this year.
However, the $60 million project is dependent upon receiving a federal loan guarantee of up to 80% of the project cost from the U.S. department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program Office (LGPO).
The plant will benefit the West Pullman community in the form of increased economic activity, new jobs and revival of such unused parcels of land. The authorities at SunPower believe that developing a 10 MW solar plant in a 39-acre area is only possible using SunPower’s high-efficiency solar technology, which generates more power per square foot than competing technologies.
Green quotient
It is estimated that this project will displace about as much as 31.2 million pounds of greenhouse emissions (equivalent of pulling 2,500 cars off the road of planting 3,200 acres of forest). The fact that the project will generate about 200 green jobs, maximizing the use of local labor and providing further job training opportunities, makes it more appealing.
Take a 3D tour of the solar power project created by Concept3D below:
Via: Treehugger