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Denver Federal Center to Build Solar Park
DENVER, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Rocky Mountain Region awarded a $6.9M contract on May 29, 2007 to SunEdison for the design and construction of a solar park at the Denver Federal Center (DFC). The park will consist of photovoltaic arrays located on a six-acre site adjacent to 6th Avenue in Lakewood, Colorado. Construction is expected to start during late summer/early fall of 2007, with electric generation beginning mid-December 2007. "The solar park is a perfect example of how the federal government can work with its industry partners to embrace green technology," said GSA Regional Administrator Leslie Plomondon. "The project promotes Administration efforts to conserve electricity through the use of renewable energy." Plomondon said the project would not be possible without the support of Colorado's citizens, GSA, Xcel Energy, and SunEdison. In 2005, Colorado was the first state in the union where voters passed a Renewable Energy Source (RES) initiative. Growth in Colorado will continue to create a greater demand for energy; therefore, it is critical to explore new more diverse energy resources. The solar park is an important opportunity for GSA to meet the renewable energy guidelines set forth by Congress, and it brings the DFC closer to its vision of being "the most sustainable campus in the country by 2020." The project is also important for Xcel Energy in meeting Colorado's Renewable Energy Standard, which requires that large electric utilities generate 20 percent of their power through renewable energy sources by 2020. GSA will build a one-megawatt system that will generate nearly 10 percent of the one square mile campus' peak electric demand. The power generated by this system is the equivalent to powering approximately 145 homes each year. "The size of this project shows that solar power can be done on a medium-sized level and that the government can set a tremendous example by leading the way," said Fred Stoffel, Xcel Energy Vice President of Marketing. "SunEdison is pleased to be working with the leaders at GSA and Xcel Energy to extend solar energy in Colorado. Colorado is a leader in the deployment of utility-scale solar," added Jigar Shah, CEO of SunEdison, North America's first and largest solar energy services provider. About SunEdison Sun Edison, LLC, is North America's leading solar energy services provider. SunEdison provides solar-generated energy at or below current retail utility rates to a broad and diverse client base of commercial, municipal and utility customers. For more information about SunEdison, please visit http://www.sunedison.com. The company headquarters is located in Beltsville, Md. About GSA GSA is one of the largest public real estate organizations in the country. PBS has an inventory of over 347 million square feet of workspace for 1.1 million federal employees in 2,100 American communities. This includes more than 1,800 government-owned buildings, or approximately 51 percent of GSA's total inventory. The remaining 49 percent is in privately owned leased facilities. Go to http://www.gsa.gov/r8 for more information.
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