Mountain Regional Water Special Service District, a special service district of the state of Utah that serves drinking water to the Snyderville Basin area of Park City, Utah, has been awarded a grant from Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program to install floating solar technology at its Signal Hill Water Treatment Plant. The project will be designed and installed by Ameresco, a leading cleantech integrator specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
The floating solar array project is designed to power the water treatment facility with locally generated renewable energy. Ameresco’s project design involves the deployment of a 589.7-kilowatt, DC capacity floating solar array. The system will be integrated behind the meter with the Rocky Mountain Power utility, allowing it to serve electricity directly to the treatment plant.
Once installed, the floating solar array system is designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 384 metric tons annually, which is equivalent to saving 43,211 gallons of gasoline per year or preventing the burning of 430,160 pounds of coal. The completion of this project is designed to offset 92% of the energy consumed from the grid and reduce the district’s energy costs by 80%.
Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program awarded this project to the Mountain Regional Water Service District as one of a dozen community-based renewable energy projects awarded in 2023. Blue Sky is an opt-in program that gives Rocky Mountain Power customers the option to match all or part of their energy use with renewable energy, reducing their carbon footprints and driving demand for new renewable energy in the West. Since 2006, Blue Sky’s 56,000 participants have helped fund over 200 new, community-based renewable energy projects in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming communities.
“Installing a floating solar array system at Signal Hill Water Treatment Plant stands as a testament to our commitment to shaping a brighter, sustainable future through innovative energy solutions,” said Bob Georgeoff, Executive Vice President of Ameresco. “Together with our partners on this project, we are thrilled to demonstrate how providing the right mix of solutions can help our customers meet their decarbonization and energy savings goals in an economically viable manner”.
This exciting development shows that companies like Mountain Regional Water and Ameresco are making significant progress towards reducing reliance on fossil fuels and transitioning towards renewable energy sources. As demand recovers and climate goals become more pressing, it will be important for companies like these to continue accelerating their deployment of low-carbon power.
Source: Ameresco