Nevada Elementary School to Receive Free Solar Array From Black Rock Solar, Dubbed 'Environmental Heroes' by People Magazine
15 4월 2008 - 10:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
WADSWORTH, Nev., April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Natchez Elementary
School on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe's Reservation in Nevada
will soon be home to a new solar energy system that will generate
clean, reliable and free electricity from the sun. The project is
being built by Black Rock Solar, with support from MMA Renewable
Ventures and Nevada's Sierra Pacific Power Company. In recognition
of the organization's work to bring low and no cost solar power to
rural schools and hospitals across Nevada, Black Rock Solar
Executive Director Tom Price was honored this week as one of People
Magazine's "Environmental Heroes" for 2008. The 60 kilowatt solar
power system is expected to generate 108,000 kilowatt-hours of
electricity per year, resulting in savings of approximately
$360,000 over the next 25 years. Natchez Elementary School and the
Washoe County School District will share the savings, with half
directly supporting the school's budget and the other half
sponsoring a special fund to support conservation efforts
throughout the district. "This new system will help us give our
students a very real lesson in the benefits of solar energy," said
Natchez Elementary School Principal Rick Taylor. "All in all, the
solar array will benefit the environment, give our classrooms a
reliable source of electricity, and help us direct precious dollars
toward education rather than energy bills." Black Rock Solar is a
non-profit supported by Burning Man, focused on speeding the
adoption of renewable energy by delivering low or no cost solar
power. Employing an innovative and collaborative approach to solar
project development, Black Rock Solar extends Burning Man's spirit
of creativity and environmental stewardship to affect real
environmental change. "If we are going to seriously address climate
change, we need to make renewable energy available to all, a
mission that Black Rock Solar aims to achieve by dramatically
lowering the cost of solar for communities that otherwise would not
have access to these clean technologies," said Price. "With this
solar energy system at Natchez Elementary -- the second project of
its kind for Black Rock Solar and our partners -- we are no longer
just asking the question, 'what if solar was free?' We're busy
answering it." Located west of the school on Nevada State Route
447, the 240-panel system was made possible through a combination
of donated labor from Black Rock Solar, industry expertise and
bridge financing from MMA Renewable Ventures, and rebates from
Sierra Pacific Power as part of the SolarGenerations program.
Established by the Nevada State Legislature in 2003, the
SolarGenerations program provides rebates that amount to $5 per
watt of installed solar power for schools and public buildings in
Nevada. The rebate for the Natchez Elementary School project is
expected to be $300,000. "We're excited to work with partners as
enthusiastic and progressive as Black Rock Solar, MMA Renewable
Ventures and the Washoe County School District," said Sierra
Pacific Program Manager John Hargrove. "The Nevada Legislature and
state utility regulators have made a strong commitment to renewable
energy by creating SolarGenerations -- one of the most aggressive
rebate programs in the nation. This project is a great example of
what they're trying to achieve." "MMA Renewable Ventures was
founded on the principle of removing the financial and operational
barriers typically associated with renewable energy," said Matt
Cheney, CEO of MMA Renewable Ventures. "We are proud to be
collaborating again with Black Rock Solar and Sierra Pacific Power
in order to help make solar energy accessible and affordable to the
Paiute community." About Black Rock Solar Black Rock Solar is a
non-profit project of the Burning Man community, focused on
addressing climate change and speeding the adoption curve of
renewable energy. By installing renewable energy at low or no cost,
Black Rock Solar puts much needed funds in the hands of communities
typically not served by the renewable energy industry, who then get
to decide how to best meet their own needs. Along the way, Black
Rock Solar creates educational opportunities for volunteers and
beneficiaries, and sponsor training to broaden the solar power
industry. Future projects will also include installation art that
explore these themes. For more information visit
http://www.blackrocksolar.org/. About Burning Man The annual art
event known as Burning Man, which began on a beach in San Francisco
in 1986, has grown to attract more than 47,000 participants
annually, from every state of the Union and twenty-two countries
worldwide. For the last seventeen years, the increasingly popular
and influential event has been held in the Black Rock Desert
outside of Reno, Nevada. Based on corporate accounting and
participant survey data, it is estimated that Burning Man
contributes almost $20 million annually to the northern Nevada
economy. For more information, visit http://www.burningman.com/.
About MMA Renewable Ventures A subsidiary of Municipal Mortgage
& Equity, LLC "MuniMae," (Pink Sheets: MMAB), MMA Renewable
Ventures finances, owns and operates renewable energy and energy
efficiency assets in the United States. The Company provides
leases, Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and other customized
financial solutions to help its customers manage energy costs. MMA
Renewable Ventures is dedicated to delivering competitively priced,
clean energy and energy savings to customers, strong partnership
options for project developers, and exceptional opportunities for
institutional investment in the clean energy sector. For more
information about MMA Renewable Ventures, visit
http://www.mmarenewableventures.com/. About Sierra Pacific Power
Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, Sierra Pacific Power Company is the
principal utility for most of northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe
area of California. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra
Pacific Resources (NYSE:SRP), which also is the holding company for
Nevada Power Company, the electric utility for southern Nevada.
Sierra Pacific Power also distributes natural gas in the
Reno-Sparks area of northern Nevada. For more information, visit
http://www.sierrapacific.com/. DATASOURCE: Black Rock Solar
CONTACT: Tom Price of Black Rock Solar, +1-801-712-5371; or Karl
Walquist of Sierra Pacific Power, +1-775-834-3891; or Rosalind
Jackson of MMA Renewable Ventures, +1-415-977-1923 Web site:
http://www.blackrocksolar.org/ http://www.mmarenewableventures.com/
http://www.burningman.com/ http://www.sierrapacific.com/
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