School Campus Installs the Largest Single-Roof Solar Array in Downtown Denver

(The Auraria Sustainable Campus Program (ASCP), in partnership with the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC) and Namast? Solar of Boulder, is nearing the completion of a 779 kW solar array installation atop the Auraria Library. It is the largest single-roof solar array in Downtown Denver according to Xcel Energy. Credit: Auraria Higher Education Center)

by | Nov 12, 2019

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(The Auraria Sustainable Campus Program (ASCP) is nearing the completion of a 779kW solar array installation atop the Auraria Library. It is the largest single-roof solar array in Downtown Denver according to Xcel Energy. Credit: Auraria Higher Education Center)

The Auraria Sustainable Campus Program (ASCP) in Denver, in partnership with the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC) and Namasté Solar of Boulder, is nearing the completion of a 779kW solar array installation atop the Auraria Library.

The installation is the largest single-roof solar array in downtown Denver according to Xcel Energy. It will be fully functional this month and will power two-thirds of the Auraria Library’s electricity needs.

The 2,100-panel array will produce approximately 1 million kWh annually. It will supply 2.5% of the annual campus-wide power consumption, increasing the Auraria Campus solar capacity tenfold to 854 kW. The array will also play a big role in lowering Auraria Campus greenhouse gas emissions by saving an estimated 1.2 million pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year. Additionally, the energy savings from this project will help increase the ASCP’s annual funding by 10-15% and allow for other impactful projects on campus.

The ASCP was established in 2011 as the result of a student-led initiative focused on reducing the ecological impact of the Auraria Campus as a whole. In addition to the ASCP’s renewable energy initiative, there are also many student- and program-led initiatives actively focused on addressing water conservation, waste diversion, and alternative transportation.

The 150-acre Auraria Campus serves the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and the University of Colorado Denver. AHEC is the Colorado state entity that serves as the umbrella organization for the Auraria Campus. The collective student, faculty, and staff population is approximately 43,000, making it the largest campus in Colorado.

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