Construction is underway on a solar farm near the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, N.M., according to an article on the Farmington Daily News website.
Crews have completed about 30 percent of the project and are on schedule to finish installing the 6,000 solar panels in September.
The facility estimates the array will fulfill 25 percent of the hospital’s daily energy needs, providing savings of up to $400,000 per year.
The hospital starting eyeing a solar project in 2004, but the price of materials then eliminated any savings in electricity costs. Now that solar panels have become cheaper and more efficient, the $4 million project could pay for itself within 10 years.