The Keystone Solar Project is the largest solar deployment in Pennsylvania.
It's a five-megawatt (AC) ground-mounted solar project that will produce approximately 7.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year.
Here are the vital statistics:
- Developer: Community Energy in conjunction with Exelon, the wholesale power purchaser for the project on a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA)
- Customers: Franklin & Marshall College, Eastern University, Clean Air Council, the Philadelphia Phillies, Millersville University, Marywood University, Juniata College
- Site: Located along Lancaster Pike south of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the project aims to support farmland preservation and agricultural soil restoration. The Project is designed so the land can support agriculture when the project is decommissioned.
- Solar panels: Approximately 20,000 290-watt solar modules from Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ)
- Inverters: Manufactured by Advanced Energy (AE) - model AE Solaron 500HE
- Mounting: Fixed-tilt, ground-mounted aluminum racking from Schletter installed on driven posts
- Contractor: groSolar
- Jobs created: Approximately 50 construction, electrical, and other jobs were created at the site.
Andrew Krulewitz, Solar Analyst at GTM Research, notes, "With Pennsylvania SREC prices hovering between $10 and $25 each, Exelon probably isn't gaining much economic advantage, if any at all, by meeting RPS compliance with this project."
Here's a time-lapse construction video from Community Energy.