Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3), one of 64-menber institutions of the State University of New York system, will now have 90% of electricity consumption generated from a 2.6MW solar system installed on the main college campus in Dryden, New York. NextEra Energy Resources helped install the solar array through an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary.
Matt Handel, vice president of development for NextEra Energy Resources, said, "By putting a piece of their underutilized land to work generating clean solar energy, TC3 will receive competitively priced electricity at no up-front cost."
The ground-mounted fixed-array system is composed of 8,676 solar modules. TC3 will purchase the electricity from the solar project over the term of a 25-year power purchase agreement. The project began generating electricity in May 2015. TC3 projections anticipate first-year savings of approximately $30,000, with potential further savings through the years if traditional utility rates increase.
Support for this project came from Governor Cuomo's NY-Sun initiative, which is administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). NY-Sun is a $1 billion initiative to advance the scale-up of solar and move the state closer to having a sustainable, self-sufficient solar industry.
(Photo Credit: TC3)