National Parks to Install Solar from South Pacific to N.Y. City

PHOTO CREDIT: SUNPLUGGERS.COM
Money from the federal stimulus package will go to solar photovoltaic projects at national parks from coast to coast, and beyond. Above, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington.

Published March 6, 2010
Updated March 9, 2010

The National Park Service is planning to install solar photovoltaic arrays at numerous sites this year, from Alcatraz Island in California, to the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York, to Saipan in the South Pacific.

Funding for the solar installations, as well as for many other park repairs and upgrades, will come from $129 million in savings from large construction projects approved under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that cost less than expected, officials said.

At Alcatraz, site of the notorious prison, solar PV modules are to be installed on the main prison building and a laundry building and will replace electricity now produced by diesel generators. At Gateway, adjacent to New York City, the park service plans to install solar photovoltaic systems at five Sandy Hook Beach centers.

PHOTO CREDIT: SUNPLUGGERS.COM
Point Reyes National Seashore in
northern California.

At American Memorial Park in the Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan, the park service will install a grid-connected solar array at the park's visitor center. The park honors thousands of Americans and residents of the Marianas who lost their lives during ferocious fighting in World War II. The Marianas Campaign is described by the park service as the decisive battle of the Pacific Theater, and the beginning of the end of the war.

Except for an inverter replacement at one park, the projects are all new installations. Many other National Park Service sites already have solar photovoltaic arrays.

Another set of solar projects that would use stimulus funding is at an earlier stage of the approval process. The Park Service is issuing requests for proposals for that set of projects. A description of them follows the list of approved projects.

The approved solar PV projects include:

California

• Channel Islands National Park, install a 10-kilowatt, grid-connected solar array at headquarters.
• Death Valley National Park, install photovoltaic panels at park headquarters.
• Golden Gate National Park, install photovoltaic panels on headquarters building.
• Manzanar National Historic Site, install grid-tied photovoltaic system on visitor center auditorium roof.
• Mojave National Preserve, install grid-tied solar panels on office roof in Baker.
• Point Reyes National Seashore, install photovoltaic system at the historic RCA-Marconi site in Bolinas, install photovoltaic systems at four park buildings, install photovoltaic systems at youth hostel and visitor center.
• Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, install photovoltaic systems at historic Diamond X Ranch and Paramount Ranch, install photovoltaic systems at three park buildings, install two photovoltaic systems at Circle X Ranch.
• Yosemite National Park, install solar equipment at El Portal complex.

Colorado

• Mesa Verde National Park, install eight photovoltaic systems on historic headquarters buildings.

Georgia

• Cumberland Island National Seashore, install six solar panels and lighting systems on coastal docks.
• Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, install photovoltaic system on visitor center.

Idaho

• Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, install photovoltaic system at headquarters.

Massachusetts

• Adams National Historical Park, install photovoltaic system for headquarters and maintenance building.
• Lowell National Historical Park, install photovoltaic panels and wind-power units at maintenance shop.

Michigan

• Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, replace HVAC and fuel storage systems with photovoltaic modules for increased efficiency and environmental protection.

Nevada

• Lake Mead National Recreation Area, install photovoltaic system at warehouse complex.

Utah

• Natural Bridges National Monument, replace photovoltaic inverter to maintain park's 100 percent dependence on solar electricity.
•  Zion National Park, install additional photovoltaic panels at emergency operations center and administration building, install photovoltaic panels at headquarters, museum building and visitors center (multiple projects).

Washington

• Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, install photovoltaic system at Fort Spokane shop and office building, install photovoltaic system at headquarters building.
• Mount Rainier National Park, install grid-tied photovoltaic systems on park buildings.

Requests for Proposals

California

Install solar photovoltaic systems at the following sites:

• Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge
• Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge
• Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge
• Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

Florida

• Adams Key, Biscayne National Park, replace diesel generators with solar power at two homes.

South Dakota

• Badlands National Park, install a wind turbine and solar photovoltaic system.
• Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Waubay National Wildlife Refuge, install wind turbines and a 5-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system.

Tennessee

• Meriwether Lewis Park, design and build a solar photovoltaic system in conjunction with roof replacement.

Utah

• Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, solar photovoltaic installation.