Pilkington North America, Inc., based in Ohio, will soon be feeling the benefits of the glass it produces for First Solar, one of the companies that uses Pilkington glass. Hull & Associates, Inc., a p…
Pilkington North America, Inc., based in Ohio, will soon be feeling the benefits of the glass it produces for First Solar, one of the companies that uses Pilkington glass. Hull & Associates, Inc., a project development company, is building a 248 kilowatt solar farm at Pilkington“s research and development facility in Toledo, Ohio. The photovoltaic array will provide power to the facility where new glasses for PV modules are being developed by Pilkington. The USD 1.5 million system will supply about 12% of the electricity needed to run Pilkington“s research and development facility. Hull is financing the system, in part with a USD 680,782 grant from the Ohio Energy Office through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Construction on the array, which is being built on a brownfield, began in December 2010 and, according to Giles, We expect it to be done by the end of January. Pilkington signed a power-purchase agreement with Hull for the power generated by the array, according to Giles. The project is a behind-the-meter project. Behind-the-meter is a project where we are building a facility, and the power“s going back to that customer. We“re offsetting electric purchases, but not putting it back on the grid, said Giles. Giles said that it“s the largest photovoltaic system that Hull has designed so far. The company also built a 93 kilowatt array at its offices in Bedford, Ohio. We are working on multiple other projects. We don“t just do solar; we“re also involved in wind and biomass, Giles said. Our market is predominantly industrial and municipal clients.