The Southern Arizona VA Health Care System is busy building a 2.9-megawatt photovoltaic power system on carports covering about 1,100 of the 1,700 parking spaces on its sprawling, 116-acre campus on Tucson's south side.
When finished this spring, the system will be one of the biggest carport-mounted photovoltaic systems in the U.S., and the second-largest commercial-size solar power array connected to Tucson Electric Power Co.'s grid. The VA hospital already boasts the sixth-largest solar system on TEP's system, a 302-kilowatt, ground-mounted array installed last year.
The $14 million carport system is being built with federal stimulus funds by California-based REC Solar, which built the local VA hospital's smaller system, with others at VA sites in California and Nevada.
It's part of a broader effort by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other federal agencies to boost the use of renewable energy.
The silicon photovoltaic system is expected to provide 18 percent of the VA campus' power needs and save about $319,000 annually, said Martin Sjursen, chief of facilities management for the local VA hospital.
"We're increasing our use of renewable energy, which offsets our need to go to the electrical grid," said Sjursen, who has been the hospital's facilities chief for 19 years.
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