Arizona State University has a huge campus in Tempe, Arizona with over 64,000 students attending classes there. There are plenty of rooftops on the campus, ideal for placing solar panels. The school has started work to do just that on 135,000 square feet of campus rooftops — that’s one-third of the available rooftops. Once the installation is complete, ASU will have the largest solar array of any American universities.

ASU plans to have all 135,000 feet of panels installed during the month of August. Once the installation is complete, it will provide 2 megawatts of electricity to the university’s grid — about 7 percent of the school’s total energy needs. ASU hopes to eventually use solar panels to provide 20 percent of the school’s needs, by making campus energy use more efficient as well as installing more panels.

The installation is being paid for through a series of federal and state tax credits, as well as an agreement with the installing companies, who will sell electricity back to ASU for the next 15 years. ASU has no upfront costs for the project. Tempe’s climate is ideal for the project, as well. — the city gets plenty of sunshine.

Photo — Alykat