PA Environment Digest

The 1.1 megawatt Ingram's Mill Solar Farm was dedciated this week at Aqua Pennsylvania's water treatment plant in East Bradford Township, Chester County.

The 4.5 acre renewable energy project uses high-efficiency panels to convert sunlight into useful power, thereby reducing the region’s power generation requirements. It is the second largest solar installation of its type on the East Coast.

The $6 million project is being partially funded with a $1 million grant through the federal stimulus program, which is administered through the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority.

Among the benefits of the new facility will be that it: offsets the need for 3,000 barrels of oil each year; avoids the equivalent of 2.6 million car miles each year; and reduces CO2 emissions by 1.4 million pounds each year.

“We are very proud to employ cutting-edge green energy technology to support our ability to provide one of the world’s most valuable resources — drinking water,” said Aqua Chairman and CEO Nicholas DeBenedictis. “Our business was created out of concern for the environment and public health, so it makes perfect sense to have a sustainable clean energy source to power our water treatment plant. This project will not only benefit the 25,000 West Chester area residents who Aqua serves, but a multitude of others who live in the area and will benefit from the environmentally friendly features of this facility.”

The project will also include a research project, “Identifying and Assessing Native Ground Cover Species to Populate Areas Beneath and Around Large Scale Solar Photovoltaic Arrays.”

Restoration ecologists and wildlife and plant biologists from Delaware and Chester County universities will study or conduct research to assess the most advantageous native plant species to populate areas beneath and around ground-mounted solar photovoltaic arrays to be built at the solar farm. The research will commence when the solar arrays are complete and ground restoration is completed.

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