A solar installation was completed in May at the Laramie Community Recreation Center. The project is one of many selected for Saturday's Laramie Solar Tour.
A solar installation was completed in May at the Laramie Community Recreation Center. The project is one of many selected for Saturday's Laramie Solar Tour.
COURTESY PHOTO
Creative Energies Solar, headquartered in Lander, built this solar project at the Laramie Recreation Center.
A tour of solar installations across the Gem City is set for Saturday, with organizers hoping to inspire more residents and business owners to consider the alternative energy source.
The Laramie Solar Tour is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. starting at the Laramie Ice and Event Center, 3510 Garfield St., where the city of Laramie recently installed solar panels.
The tour will continue in several formats, said organizer Conor Mullen, who is with the Wyoming Chapter of the Sierra Club. Participants can continue by bicycle, they can conduct a self-guided tour or view the tour online at the Facebook page of the Alliance for Renewable Energy of Laramie.
“I think we’re going to have good weather, so we wanted to make it fun for folks that want to get out on the bike or would prefer to cover some ground,” Mullen said. “But having options was the priority in planning the event.”
Additional stops on the tour include the University of Wyoming Indoor Practice Facility, the UW Visual Art Center, the UW Bim Kendall House, the Downtown Clinic and several private residences.
Mullen said the stops demonstrate how solar power installations can be put to use in a variety of locations.
“Every stop is fulfilling some or all of their needs through the technology,” he said.
Mullen said Wyoming ranks high in terms of its solar potential, and more people could be taking advantage of the technology.
“We’re hoping that folks can get the scoop on how much energy can be produced with solar, what some of the benefits are around that technology and just to open people up to solar as a viable energy source,” he said.
Alliance for Renewable Energy of Laramie, the Powder River Basin Resource Council and the American Solar Energy Society are also helping organize the tour.
The city of Laramie installed solar arrays to power the Ice and Event Center and the Laramie Community Recreation Center after receiving a grant from Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program last year. The projects were completed in May.
“It’s pretty cool that the city is making use of those forms of energy,” Mullen said.
The Downtown Clinic’s solar array, completed in 2018, also was funded by Rocky Mountain Power. That facility’s solar array offsets the clinic’s energy use by 98% and even powers a battery connected to the clinic’s two refrigerators used to store medical supplies so they’ll remain working in case of a power outage.
Executive Director Pete Gosar told the Boomerang in 2018 that the solar installation also serves to reassure clients at the low-income clinic that they’re getting top-quality medical care at a facility with state-of-the-art technology.
“Maybe some of the stigma that is associated with free care goes away, and maybe some people will feel like this is a place they can be honest about their health conditions and they feel comfortable coming to,” he said.
Mullen said the Alliance for Renewable Energy and the Wyoming Solar Energy Association are both good resources for learning more about solar energy.
