Colby College Plans to Install More Than 5,000 Solar Panels

A forthcoming plan to place more than 5,000 solar panels on land owned by Colby College in central Maine is set to become one of the largest solar energy projects in the state.

The Morning Sentinel reports the solar panels will be installed on two 4.5-acre sites in Oakland later this year and are expected to produce 2.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually for the college's campus.

Doug Terp, Colby's vice president for administration and chief financial officer, says the project will provide enough energy to cover about 16 percent of the school's energy needs.

Colby sustainability coordinator Kevin Bright says electrical work will be conducted at the sites between now and August. He says the structures that hold the solar panels will be installed sometime after that.