Ten acres of the Loy Farm property on South Oak Avenue may soon become home to a 1.66-megawatt solar panel farm, a joint venture of Elon University and Petra Engineering. The Town of Elon Board of Aldermen will vote on the development of the project next week.
At the Board of Aldermen meeting April 1, Robert Buchholtz, assistant vice president for facilities management and director of Physical Plant at Elon, described the nature of the project and the details of the construction. He said the solar panel farm, which the university began planning in May 2012, would generate enough energy to power 550 homes through a potential partnership with Duke Energy. Negotiations with the company are underway, he said.
Alderman David Montgomery, a Duke Energy employee, said the company has built several successful solar panel developments in the state.
“These projects are ones we are interested in promoting,” he said. “Some we’ve done ourselves, some through a third party. With the tax credits, they become popular.”
Elon’s environmental and biology departments have expressed interest in helping maintain the solar panel farm if it comes to fruition, Buchholtz said. Although the university has reserved 10 of Loy Farm’s 33 acres for the development, the 5,615 panels will cover about two and a half acres. Each 290-watt panel will be mounted on an axis to allow movement as the sun rises and sets.
Loy Farm currently supports Elon’s Environmental Education Center. Garden plots on the east side of the farm teach students to grow and harvest produce. Buchholtz said the development of the solar panel farm would support the environmental center’s educational initiatives.
“This will be a great educational tool not only for the university, but for schools in the community,” he said.
If the Board of Aldermen votes in favor of building the farm, construction will likely begin in May and conclude in July, Buchholtz said.
“The timetable depends on Duke Energy,” he said. “We think we can build this in six to eight weeks.”