April 21, 2010

The Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA's future is bright when it comes to going green.

Crews spent part of the day installing 46 solar panels on the roof of the shelter. Once they are up and running, the energy collected by the panels will supply about 10 percent of the building's energy during peak hours, as long as there is enough sun.

"We do see down the road that the solar technology will expand through the state," said Ken Barker of Dominion Power. "What we have to determine with demonstrations like this is how does it operate and how much energy does it put out at peak times. So this will be great information that the power company can learn from."

Dominion helped fund the project by giving the SPCA a grant for it. Overall, the solar panels will generate about 2.5 percent of all the shelter's power over the course of a month.