RANDALLSTOWN, Md. — At a time when many people are complaining that their electric bills are going through the roof, Baltimore County is using the top of the Randallstown Community Center to cut its costs.
“This is now the largest solar project in Baltimore County to date,” announced County Executive Johnny Olszewski as the county cut a ceremonial ribbon on the finished project.
1,880 solar panels mounted on the center’s roof are now capturing enough of the sun’s radiant energy to power the entire facility with more kilowatts to spare.
“The average homeowner uses between 10,500 to 11,000 kilowatt hours per year,” said Maryland Sen. Benjamin Brooks, “This particular building is going to be generating 800,000 kilowatt hours.”
The county has partnered with a solar producer called TotalEnergies, and it actually is picking up all of the up front costs and owns the panels, but county taxpayers will receive a benefit.
“We’re going to see reduced payments on our bill so as energy costs continue to escalate, we’re going to have cost avoidance, because we have certainty and a reduced cost on what our energy cost is going to be,” said Olszewski.
Not to mention producing enough clean energy to offset the emissions from 133 gas-powered vehicle driven for a year or from consuming roughly 1,300 barrels of oil.
“We’re using an underused resource, the rooftop of this building, to generate something we need, clean electricity, for our county,” said County Chief Sustainability Officer Greg Strella, “and that actually makes both business sense and ecological sense for our community.”
