Power To Save: Solar Panels Powering Part Of King’s College
WILKES-BARRE: The holidays plus the colder weather mean a lot of us will see higher energy bills.
When it comes to winter time in northeastern and central Pennsylvania, many people think of snow and cloudy weather, but the president of Endless Mountain Solar says we see more sunshine overall than some countries that rely on power from the sun.
“On average in northeast Pennsylvania, there’s about 4.18 hours of sunlight per day. In Germany, which over 40 percent of the country is run on solar electricity, they get about 3.5 hours per sunlight a day. So we actually get more sunlight then Germany,” said Mike Pitcavage, Endless Mountain Solar.
Panzitta Enterprises Inc. is the contractor that transformed the Ramada Hotel into King’s on the Square. Panzitta is donating a solar system to the college and installing it on the roof.
The 214 solar panels on the roof are expected to generate about $500,000 of electricity over their 20-year lifespan. That means King’s College will save a lot of money on its utility bills.
“It is the same as generating electricity from natural gas, coal, you name it. It’s actually come down quite a bit in price.”
Pitcavage says investments in solar power have become more affordable. If the panels generate extra energy when the college is closed during the summer, Pitcavage says King’s could actually make money by selling the electricity and sending it to the nationwide power grid.