Upper Darby Embraces Solar Panels in Next Step Toward Sustainability

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Upper Darby Municipal Building in 69th Street
Image via Pete Bannan, Daily Times.

Solar panels being installed at Upper Darby’s municipal building and at the Watkins Center in Stonehurst will save the township in energy costs, and begin a process of sustainable infrastructure investment, writes Pete Bannan for the Daily Times.

The township approved a $250,000 contract to Exact Solar of Newtown to install the panels.

The combined 275 panels will create 103.4 kW of total DC power output capability, estimated at 133,457 kWh/year.

The panels reduce the township’s use of fossil fuels, offsetting greenhouse gasses equivalent to 20.6 cars, or 10,632 gallons of gas consumed.

 “It’s part of our program to build the future of Upper Darby, make it more sustainable, and bring it into the 21st century,” said Mayor Barbarann Keffer. “With the township building and Watkins they needed new roofs so that was the time to get the solar panels in.”

Keffer said a new Community Center will have a green roof and other sustainable features, likely the first LEED-certified building in the township.

The township building parking lot will have solar-powered kiosks, electric car chargers, and more plantings to reduce stormwater runoff.

Keffer said the township’s also looking to invest in electric cars.

Read more at the Daily Times about Upper Darby’s solar panel installations.

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