Check out this Toledo Zoo solar site — featured at EPA’s Ohio Brownfield Conference

Installing solar in a brownfield is just a big win for everyone, so it makes sense that the EPA’s Ohio Brownfield Conference 2016 from April 6 – 7 will be showcasing the Toledo Zoo’s solar array. We have a lot of photos below.

The presentation will focus on the redevelopment of the 22-acre vacant former industrial site into a 10.45-acre solar array which generates about 2 MW of electricity for the Toledo Zoo through a power purchase agreement. The solar array supplies more than 30 percent of the zoo’s electricity needs, significantly reducing the zoo’s carbon emissions.

The 28,000-panel solar array is the largest in the nation to supply power to a zoo. The zoo uses an average of 8 million kWh of electricity each year, and the solar array produces nearly 3 million kWhs of that total.

The array was a collaborative effort between GEM Energy, the Toledo mayor’s office, Toledo city council and the Lucas County Land Bank, with no financial investment by the zoo.

Guest speakers for the event include Jason Slattery, director of solar for GEM Energy, the developer and installer of the site; Doug Jambard-Sweet, project manager, TTL Associates Inc., which performed environmental due diligence; and Marc Gerdeman, brownfield redevelopment officer for the city of Toledo.

GEM Energy offers a wide array of services to help customers increase their energy efficiency, sustainability and energy savings. GEM Energy’s comprehensive energy services and technologies include solar development, integration of power generation, advanced heating and cooling systems, procurement and FlexSet energy monitoring/building control systems for commercial, industrial, institutional and mission-critical facilities. GEM Energy is part of the Rudolph Libbe Group, which also includes Rudolph Libbe Inc., GEM Inc., Lehman Daman and Rudolph Libbe Properties.