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    City of Frederick Installing 384 kW Solar Canopy at Police Headquarters in Maryland

    March 5, 2024
    The solar canopy will also provide protection to the Police Department’s fleet vehicles against inclement weather – such as rain, snow, and sleet
    Secure Solar Futures
    65e73e7a7a9f19001e23b841 Secure Solar Futures

    The City of Frederick, Maryland, has partnered with Secure Solar Futures and Capital Solar Group to develop a 384-kW solar canopy at the city’s Police Department Headquarters by the end of 2024.

    This Police Department solar energy system will be the first solar canopy on a municipal building in the City of Frederick and the first at a public safety facility in Frederick County.

    In its first year of operation, the solar canopy project is expected to produce 444,800 kWh of electric power – enough energy to power 40 average homes. This generated power will also cover nearly 14% of the Police Headquarters’ electricity demand. Any remaining electricity demand will be covered by purchasing power from the local utility.

    The solar canopy will also protect the Police Department’s fleet vehicles against inclement weather – such as rain, snow, and sleet – to ensure the vehicles are ready to respond in an emergency while reducing their overall maintenance costs.

    The partners also engaged in a power purchase agreement (PPA), allowing the facility to receive solar power equipment without any upfront capital cost from the city. In addition, during the 25-year term of the PPA, Secure Solar Futures will own and operate the solar canopy, providing 100% of the canopy’s generated power directly to the city and creating electricity cost savings of more than $174,500.

    Once the PPA is fulfilled, the City of Frederick can take ownership of the solar system at a nominal cost to produce its own energy for the remainder of the equipment’s 40-year productive lifespan.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.