Commissioned on August 3, 2007, a 23 kW PV system sits on the roof of the Westport Fire Station, located at 515 Post Road East, Westport, CT 06880. The PV system consists of 88 Sunpower (www.sunpower.com) 220 watt PV modules mounted on the flat roof, and 22 Sanyo (www.sanyo.com) 200 watt modules mounted on the parapet wall. The PV array on the parapet is clearly visible from the Post Road.

The PV system is expected to generate roughly 10% of the buildings annual energy requirements. It will offset a significant amount of Green House Gases (GHG), including dangerous CO2 (global warming), SO2 (acid rain), and NO2 (air pollution-smog). It will also contribute to peak-shaving, impacting the local community and assisting the regional energy grid by removing the electric load requirements during the highest electric consumption hours of the day, 9am-3pm.

The project was developed and orchestrated by Westport Solar Consultants,( www.westportsolar.com.) The final commissioning is a result of the collaboration with Solar Works, Inc., www.solarworksinc.com, a leading solar installation company, the Town of Westport Department of Public Works, led by Stephen Edwards, Director, and Michael Frawley, Superintendent of Facilities, and the Westport Energy Task Force, led by Carl Leaman.

This project received substantial funding from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) as part of the On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation (DG) program (www.ctinnovations.com).