The Museum has completed the second phase of a project to install solar panels on the roof of the main building. In spring 2011, more than 1,400 solar panels joined the 1,450 installed in 2008, now covering 60% of the building and making the 202 kilowatt system on the roof one of the largest solar panel installations in the state of Ohio. Now, on a clear, sunny day the modules produce up to 40% of the building’s electrical demand.
The Museum’s solar panel project was implemented largely through local resources. The panels were manufactured by First Solar (Perrysburg, Ohio) and installed by Advanced Distributed Generation, LLC (Toledo, Ohio). The power inverter was manufactured by Nextronics (Toledo). The project was funded, in part, by a grant from the Ohio Department of Development’s Office of Energy Efficiency and a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.