is more than just another college. A member of the vaunted Ivy League, it also has an extensive healthcare component. Together, its educational and healthcare facilities consume an enormous amount of electricity — around 300 MW, or about a third of what an average size nuclear power plant produces.
The partnership with AES “has been essential in meeting Penn’s goal to accelerate its adoption of renewable energy, and doing it in a way that serves the mission of our institution,” said Anne Papageorge, senior vice president of facilities and real estate services for the University of Pennsylvania at the ribbon cutting ceremony, which was held at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy in the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.
“The University gets a lot of credit, because when we started to do it, it was mostly for climate reasons — We made this pledge; we have to keep up to it,” he said. But a curious thing happened when the committee dug into the numbers. It soon became apparent the Universityas the cost of solar development decreased. The university considered getting 50% of its electricity from solar but later increased the amount to 70%, said Faramarz Vakili, executive director of operations and maintenance.
“We went through a pandemic during this period, which changed many things — supply chain, costs — and so what I’m most proud of is that AES’ team and our team continued to work through all of those challenges,” Papageorge said.. “We actually, to the month, finished the project within the schedule of the contract.”The land that is now home to Great Cove I and II was previously used for dairy and crop production.
Winn is still finishing research for her degree, but has already developed seven best management practices, some of which AES is already implementing. They include re-introduction of native vegetation, soil erosion and sedimentation control, grazing, agrivoltaics systems, soil health restoration practices, solar tracking systems, and photovoltaic array design for agriculture opportunities.