The University of Toledo celebrated the expansion of its solar array near the University of Toledo Medical Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning. Located along Main Technology Drive, the expanded array increases nameplate capacity from 330 to 750 kilowatts, more than doubling solar energy production on Health Science Campus while creating opportunities for student learning and research.
UToledo celebrated the expansion of its solar array near the University of Toledo Medical Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning.
Since coming online in late 2020, the original installation has generated more than 2.6 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy. Combined with reductions in peak electrical demand, that adds up to a total economic impact of nearly $275,000. With the expansion, the array’s annual electrical production is now valued at more than $70,000, in addition to peak-demand savings.
A student-driven initiative, the array is the flagship project of the Student Green Fund, a committee of undergraduate and graduate students that administers a voluntary $5 fee assessed each semester in partnership with UToledo’s Office of Sustainability. The fund contributed $350,000 toward the first phase of the array and $530,000 toward the expansion.
The project also reflects UToledo’s long-standing partnership with First Solar, the solar technology company with a significant footprint in Northwest Ohio, which donated Series 5 modules for the first phase and Series 6 Plus modules for the expansion. First Solar’s photovoltaic technology uses cadmium telluride, a thin-film material in which UToledo is a global research leader, with University physicists — including two who are credited among the most highly cited researchers in the world — routinely publishing groundbreaking work that helps place UToledo among U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities.
Among the speakers at the ceremony were UToledo President James Holloway and Jaden Bollinger, student government president.
