by
Zachary Shahan
Clean Technica
(January 24th, 2010) -
It's not a team from the Sunshine State (Florida), but one from
equally sunny California. The NBA team with a huge new solar
installation is the Golden State
Warriors.
You may think that putting some solar panels on a practice facility
isn't a big deal. But when you consider that this solar
installation will save the team $2 million in electricity costs
over the next couple of decades ($36,000 in its first year of
operation), that changes things a bit.
The Golden State Warriors cut the ribbon on this new
installation on Thursday, January 21st.
President of the installation company (The Solar
Company) Mark Danenhower, must be especially happy with this
one. For one, the team (whose solar-powered practice facility is in
Oakland) is in his neighborhood (The Solar Company is based out of
Castro Valley, CA). Additionally, if other NBA or professional
sports teams decide they want to go solar, he might have first
dibbs.
Golden State isn't the first team to go solar. Pheonix started
getting into the action in 2008. But it is a leader in this field.
Hopefully, others will follow.
Here is a little more information on the Golden State Warriors'
new solar system, via Cooler Planet:
* 143.5kW System Size
* 537 SunPower SPR-305-WHT-U Modules
* 23 SunPower SPR-6000m (277V) Inverters
* Estimated Average Daily Production is 758.9kWH
* Estimated Annual Production is 277,008kWH
* System is sized to eliminate approximately 26% of current
electrical usage
* Array Panels cover Approximately 9,641 sq. ft.
* Save about $36,000 per year on their Electric bill
* Projected Savings in 10 Years - $503,000
* Projected Savings in 25 Years - $2,094,000