Darden, the Orlando based parent of Red Lobster and Olive Garden recently added a 1 megawatt solar array to it’s HQ in Orlando. This makes it the largest privately owned solar array in Florida.
* The install cost $5.6 million quite a bit less than a similar size install at the Orange County Convention Ctr a few years ago that cost $7.5million showing the continued efficiency boost and price decline of commercial grade solar PV
* The install will help to defer up to 20% of the electric costs of the building but only offers a break even of 10 to 12 years
* The total system uses over 4,400 Solar World 250 watt panels with the majority of panels
(3,326) located above the 4 story parking garage on a custom steel canopy that incorporates live vertical panels on the south, east, and west facing. The balance of panels are located on the main building roof at a 15 degree tilt using a fully ballasted racking system.
Here’s a pic of the new install:
Info Courtesy of Orlando Sentinel Kevin Spear and PVTech.org Anne Zimmerman
Conservastore supports corporate realization that solar is a way to power the needs of a company. We wish the press releases would concentrate more on how this is clean energy largely and how unclean the energy this is replacing may be. Also has Darden looked at adding solar or wind to any of it’s thousands of restaurant locations?
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