Research and Solutions: Different Campuses, One Goal: Onsite Solar Generation
Abstract
Different Campuses, One Goal Onsite Solar Generation By David Oxtoby The differences are striking. A massive, public university in the sunny Southwest with most buildings of recent vintage versus a historic, private university in four-season New England with many buildings dating back more than 100 years. When Arizona State University (Tempe) and Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) each set out to bring solar power to campus, they faced very different challenges in terms of system location and design as a result of their different climates and their specific physical plants. But the differences are far greater than that; the two universities also faced different state policies toward renewable energy, unique state and utility incentives for solar power, varying legal frameworks for onsite generation, and different treatment of the projectsâ renewable attributes. In the past year, both Arizona State (ASU) and Harvard have successfully used third-party financing to develop large solar power systems on their campuses at no upfront capital cost to the institutions. Both universities have found a way to benefit from clean onsite power generation by overcoming a number of challenges and the many differences outlined above. This is just one reason that, in a recent ranking of