MVCC, groSolar sign deal for solar power

ROME, N.Y. — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) has inked a deal with Global Resource Options Inc. to develop a “large-scale” solar project for power at the school.

Global Resource Options, which does business as groSolar, has main offices in Columbia, Maryland and White River Junction, Vermont.

MVCC expects the 2.8 megawatt project to replace about 35 percent of the college’s total electricity load with solar energy, according to a joint news release that the school and the company issued Wednesday.

“Electricity costs have been rising and are forecast to continue to rise, and solar generation is anticipated to save MVCC about $90,000 in the first year of this partnership,” Randall VanWagoner, the college’s president, said in the release. “Nearly $1 million of MVCC’s annual budget goes to electricity for our campuses. Holding this cost down positions us to better develop our workforce and our community and helps our taxpayers, our students, and their families.”

The groSolar company is developing the project on a site that the Rome Industrial Development Corporation owns near the intersection of Old Oneida and Lowell roads in the city of Rome.

The firm expects to begin work this year, pending approval by the Rome Planning Board, and complete it in 2016.

MVCC incorporates solar-power training into its electrical-service technology curriculum, and will partner with groSolar to further incorporate solar into its educational offerings.

When complete, the project will produce about 3,500 megawatts of electricity in its first year, utilizing about 9,000 solar modules.

A grant from the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) is “partially” paying for the project.

MVCC and groSolar jointly applied for the grant. They didn’t disclose the amount.

Global Resource Options describes itself as a “large commercial- and utility-scale solar development, engineering, procurement, and construction firm with more than 15 years of experience,” according to the release.

Since inception, the company has built more than 2,000 solar projects for customers in sectors that include government, commercial, industrial, and utility, groSolar said in the news release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com