Project To Result in Two Months of Energy Savings For Main Street Arena, Which Becomes First Recipient of Renewable Energy Loan Fund Partnership Between LEAP and City of Charlottesville
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – March 22, 2012 – Main Street Arena and LEAP (Local Energy Alliance Program) announced today that the MSA will soon be home to one of Virginia’s largest privately-owned solar power installations.
The 68 kW Array is expected to save the popular ice skating and special event facility as much as two months off its yearly energy bill every year (or offset the energy use of 6.63 American homes). The project will also serve to further establish the city of Charlottesville as a leader in innovative renewable energy solutions while at the same time helping to support job creation in our region.
Work on the project is being done by the Fredericksburg, Virginia-based U.S. Green Energy (USGE), which owns a plant in Danville, Virginia that will employ as many as 40 workers. Work on the project has already begun and the tentative completion date is April 30th.
“We are very happy to be partnering with LEAP on a project that we believe will have not only positive effects on our business but also will send an important signal to other businesses that now is the time to start investing in the future,” said Mark Brown, owner of Main Street Arena. “When we factored in that this particular project would also help create jobs here in Virginia, we felt as though we had a responsibility to do the project. I would personally like to thank the Charlottesville City Council for having the vision to make projects like this possible.”
The $280,000 project is the first to come out of a Renewable Energy Loan Fund grant awarded to LEAP by the City of Charlottesville.
“We were interested in the Main Street Arena application for a number of reasons,” said LEAP Executive Director Cynthia Adams. “First, it is a very high-profile project. MSA serves so many different segments of our community, and it is a very visible business which helps anchor our Downtown Mall. We look forward to working with Mark to help educate the public on the value of renewable energy. And, from an energy perspective, you have an organization that will be using the sun to make ice, which, any way you look at it, is pretty cool.”
“The City of Charlottesville has received statewide and even national attention for our efforts to promote energy conservation and energy efficiency,” said Charlottesville City Councilor Dave Norris, “and this project will put us on the map as a community that champions renewable energy as well. Kudos to Mark Brown and the Main Street Arena for leading the way.”
“We are delighted to be partnering with the Main Street Arena and with LEAP on what promises to be an exciting and important project,” said Robert R. Bennett, CEO of USGE . “We are particularly excited that this project has the potential to not only provide significant energy savings, but to also stand as an example to all in this region and beyond of what is possible when forward-thinking and creative renewable energy solutions are explored and achieved. Finally, we are extremely proud that the project will have positive impacts on many lives here in the Commonwealth through the jobs it will create in and around our manufacturing facility in Danville.”
Main Street Arena is a 30,000 square-foot sports and entertainment venue on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall that hosts up to 50,000 visitors per year with an array of programming that includes ice skating, figure skating, hockey, meetings and conventions, live concerts, community fundraisers and more.
LEAP is a non-profit organization that coordinates home energy improvement projects, and an official sponsor of Energy Star’s Home Performance Program in Virginia. LEAP’s services include home energy assessments, federal rebates, special zero-to-low interest loans and home upgrades to insulation, air sealing, heat pumps and other energy-wasting weak spots in a home.
U.S. Green Energy Corporation, based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, is the nation’s premier manufacturer and producer of aesthetically pleasing, solar integrated and solar thermal integrated roofing materials. The company boasts a leadership team with more than 100 years of combined experience in utility, industrial, commercial, residential energy and environmental industry market. USGE’s vision is to provide the highest quality alternative energy through the innovative development and deployment of photo voltaic building products that are architecturally appealing, construction friendly and have practical consumer application.
For more information on Main Street Arena, visit www.mainstarena.com.
For more information on LEAP, visit www.leap-va.org.
For more information on USGE, visit www.usgesolar.com.
facebook
twitter
LEAP instagram