DART First State Garners Green Grant

Wilmington -- DART First State Garners Green Grant Funds Help DART to Go Greener

The Delaware Transit Corporation and DART First State (DTC) is continuing to get greener by saving even more energy resources. DTC has been awarded a $1.5 million grant to retrofit DTC facilities with solar panels that will generate electric cost savings and reduce fossil fuel energy needs. The grant is from the Federal Transit Administration under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and Transit Investment for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) Program. This grant contributes to the DTC commitment to saving energy, operating greener, and using renewable energy to better serve our riders and our environment.


DTC Executive Director Stephen Kingsberry stated, We are very grateful for receiving this grant to help DART save even more energy resources to better serve our customers. This grant adds to our ongoing efforts in becoming an even greener DART and supplements our other energy saving and clean air efforts. These existing efforts include using low sulfur fuel in our buses, new electric hybrid buses, and solar lit bus shelters and bus stops.


The solar panels, once installed, will power lighting, computers, air conditioning, and other electric loads in te DTC buildings. The environmental benefits of integrating solar energy within DTC facilities includes an annual reduction of approximately 367,000 pounds in carbon dioxide (CO2), which is the equivalent of removing approximately 31 automobiles from our highways, or equivalent to the amount of CO2 that is removed by 1,236 acres of trees.


The $1.5 million investment in solar energy will return dividends based on the reduction in annual building usage of purchased electricity. The return on the investment of the reduction in energy consumption is estimated to be approximately $91,222 per year with a full payback on the system in 15 years.


The installation of the solar panels is currently in the project development and scoping phase. The DTC facilities identified as possible locations include:

* DTC Wilmington Administration Building, 119 Lower Beech Street

* Wilmington Operations Center, 1 South Monroe Street

* Wilmington Paratransit Maintenance Facility, 600 West 2nd Street

* Dover Administration and Maintenance Facility, 900 Public Safety Blvd

* Georgetown Operations Center, South Bedford St & Rt. 113


This project will be one of the first implementations of solar energy in Delaware for state facilities. DTC will join a select few transit agencies across the country using solar energy to power transit facilities.