SunWize Systems Completes Phase One of Nation's Largest Solar Carport Installation, Announces Expansion of Phase Two

Kingston, NY – April 4, 2011SunWize Systems, the premier installation group of SunWize Technologies, Inc., announced today it has completed the first phase of the nation's largest solar carport for the Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA) at its Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ. SunWize will offer a free solar tour on the VA grounds of the solar installation in conjunction with CleanMED 2011, the premier global conference on environmentally sustainable health care, which takes place in Phoenix this week."We are pleased with the completion of phase one of this project and the progress we are making on the second phase," said David Kaltsas, president of the Systems Group at SunWize. "We applaud VAAdditionally, SunWize announced today that the project, which had previously been slated for 3.63 MW, has expanded to 4.45 MW of photovoltaic solar production. Scheduled to be completed in early 2012, the project will transform the hospital parking lot into a clean power plant, making use of more than 18,000 Samsung and Sanyo solar panels. It will be the industry’s largest solar carport installation and the largest hospital solar photovoltaic (PV) system.

“SunWize has been a great partner to VA, taking phase one from concept to the operational carport system now providing clean solar energy to the hospital,” said James Larson, energy manager at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center. “We are proud to be a renewable energy leader in the health care community and look forward to working with SunWize on the completion of phase two.”

The Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center project is one of a number of solar hospital systems now under contract with SunWize as a part of a comprehensive VA effort to utilize renewable energy and improve energy efficiency. The completed installation is expected to generate more than seven million kilowatt-hours of clean energy annually—enough electricity to power more than 700 homes. This reduction in energy demand from the electric grid is equivalent to a yearly reduction of more than 9.3 million pounds of CO₂ emissions. As an added benefit, the system will also provide covered parking for more than 1,625 cars. 

“We are pleased with the completion of phase one of this project and the progress we are making on the second phase,” said David Kaltsas, president of the Systems Group at SunWize. “We applaud VA’s commitment to renewable energy, and are proud of the confidence shown in SunWize with its expansion of the system to become the largest carport PV system and hospital installation in the industry.”