The General Services Administration has invested $28 million into a solar roof for a federal building in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Star reports.
The Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center now has the largest array of solar panels producing electricity in the Midwest, with 6,152 SunPower solar panels on the roof producing 2 megawatts of electricity for use inside the building.
“This is the future in a green economy. It is not exotic. We see here that it is real,” GSA Administrator Martha Johnson said.
The Indianapolis project was funded with dollars from the American Recovery and Investment Act and created jobs during the year of construction to reinforce and strengthen the roof and to install the solar panels.
Last week, Johnson attended the both the Bean Federal Center groundbreaking and the groundbreaking of a geothermal project at Ball State University.
28 Million seems a little expensive, just curious about how many years it will take to recoup the investment. Large 2 Mega Watt wind turbines cost around 3 million installed. They could have installed 9 of them and powered the whole city for that much. Indiana seems to have more wind then sunshine.
Solar power is really the only way to go. We all need to do our part to spread the word. It’s just about getting the word out that solar and going green takes “just about the same effort”.