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The town's planning board will get its first look at a proposal to cover two parking lots at the new Ayco/Goldman Sachs headquarters with an array of solar panels that could generate as much as 1.14 megawatts of current.
A total of 3,010 solar panels will cover parking areas on the east and west sides of the 150,000-square-foot building now nearing completion in Latham.
The carports will be at least 14 feet above the ground to give clearance to larger vehicles.
Joseph LaCivita, Colonie's director of planning and economic development, said the building is seeking LEED, for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
"Goldman Sachs is highly motivated by the ecological benefits of utilizing alternative power sources wherever possible," according to the narrative submitted to the planning board.
It's not the first solar carport in the Capital Region.
General Electric Co. opened a parking lot covered with an array of 6,800 solar modules at its campus in Schenectady more than two years ago. It has performed well, said Chris Larkin, asset manager for GE solar assets, in an interview Monday afternoon.
"In the last three months we performed at 106 percent" of projected output, Larkin said. "We're producing more than we thought we would."
GE is no stranger to the business. Larkin said it also designs and builds solar arrays for commercial and industrial customers.
And such solar carports have other benefits. They help shield vehicles parked below them from winter snows and summer rains.
Larkin said that, if it starts snowing while he's at the office, "it's kind of nice" to come out and not have to clean off his car.
Albany International Airport also is installing more than an acre of solar panels over 210 parking spaces in a project expected to be completed next year, airport spokesman Doug Myers said. The project will include a covered walkway for pedestrians to the terminal.
Saving on energy costs can pay for the installations in as little as four or five years, while the equipment can last 30 years or more, said Larkin.
"The addition of solar carports is part of a larger investment in several areas to create an environmentally friendly workplace and construct a green, energy efficient headquarters for Ayco," the company said.
Its solar carport "is going to get them pretty close to net zero costs" for energy, said LaCivita.
Eric Anderson is the former editor of the Times Union's business section. Eric also writes the Traveling Man column for the Times Union's Upstate magazine.