by Brianna Crandall — December 22, 2010—The Philadelphia Eagles recently announced plans to power Lincoln Financial Field with a combination of onsite wind, solar and dual-fuel generated electricity, making it the world’s first major sports stadium to convert to self-generated renewable energy, according to the Eagles, via a report from the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
The franchise has contracted with SolarBlue, a renewable energy and energy conservation company, to install the system. The planned design includes approximately eighty 20-foot spiral-shaped wind turbines on the top rim of the stadium; 2,500 solar panels on the stadium’s faade; a 7.6-megawatt (MW) onsite dual-fuel cogeneration plant; and a monitoring and switching technology to operate the system. The completion goal is September 2011.
SolarBlue will invest more than $30 million to build out the project, and will maintain and operate the stadium’s power system for the next 20 years at a fixed percent annual price increase in electricity. The football franchise will save an estimated $60 million in energy costs.
The partners also project that Lincoln Financial Field will provide 1.039 billion kWh of electricity, enabling an estimated 4 MW of excess energy off-peak to be sold back to the local electric grid. Solar Blue estimates that converting the stadium to renewable energy will generate electricity comparable to the annual usage of 26,000 homes, and eliminate CO2 emissions equivalent to the consumption of 500,000 barrels of oil, equal to the removal of carbon emissions of 41,000 cars each year.
SolarBlue has more photos and information available on its Web site.
