by Shane Henson — June 27, 2011—U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced the offer of a conditional commitment to provide a partial guarantee for a $1.4 billion loan to support Project Amp. This project will support the installation of solar panels on industrial buildings across the country, with the electricity generated from those panels contributing directly to the electrical grid, as opposed to powering the buildings where they are installed.
Supported by funding from the 2009 stimulus bill, the solar generation project includes the installation of approximately 733 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, which is nearly equal to the total amount of PV installed in the U.S. in 2010, DOE officials say. It is estimated Project Amp will create at least 1,000 jobs over a four-year period.
Project Amp will enable a wide distribution of solar power over approximately 750 existing rooftops owned and managed by Prologis. NRG Energy is the lead investor for the first phase of the project, which includes a 15.4 MW installation in Southern California. Phase 1 will utilize at least 90 percent U.S. sourced components. The power from phase 1 will be sold to Southern California Edison. Additional installations will be built in up to 28 states and the District of Columbia.
DOE officials say that ultimately, Project Amp is expected to produce up to one million megawatt hours annually, enough to power over 88,000 homes. At this level, the project is also expected to avoid approximately 580,000 tons of carbon pollution annually.
