New Mexico VA Hospital to Install State’s Largest PV System

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Health Care System in Albuquerque, NM, announced it is installing a 3.2 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) system.

The system, which will be designed and installed by Eaton, will be the largest PV system in New Mexico, according to a company press release. Constructors, Inc. recently announced that it would be installing the largest solar installation by a private company in the state by installing a 1,300 square foot system on two of its administrative offices in Carlsbad, where it will generate 8,300 kilowatt hours per month.

The VA system will include a car port and roof-mounted arrays, and will implement a building-integrated system to reduce demand from the grid.

Other health care systems have been installing solar projects as well. The Family Care Health Centers of St. Louis recently installed a 50 kilowatt system, while the new University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, N.J., will rely partly on solar energy to power itself. Gundersen Lutheran meanwhile installed several solar panels on its garage as part of its efforts to switch completely to renewables.

The VA system will cost $20 million, and is being funded by the federal stimulus program.

This contract is one of several recent agreements that Eaton has reached with government organizations, including $8 million in electrical products and services for the San Antonio Military Medical Center on the Fort Sam Houston Army base in Texas, supplying hybrid electric power systems for 35 fuel-efficient shuttle buses purchased by the U.S. General Services Administration for use on U.S. military bases and providing energy conservation at the United States Postal Service (USPS) Eastern Facilities Service Office at postal facilities in North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.