IEC Completes Highway 50 Photovoltaic Study for SMUD

Sacramento, Calif., September 4, 2009 – The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) are interested in the feasibility of installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels along highway and freeway corridors throughout Sacramento and the State of California. As a result, SMUD would like to develop a demonstration project to establish the feasibility and best method of placing utility-scale solar power installations on Caltrans properties along the freeways. To determine the feasibility of this project, IEC Corporation was contracted to evaluate the cost, performance, and potential barriers to installing the PV arrays at the sites. The completed study and report identified the potential challenges to developing solar PV along Highway 50 and provided a detailed cost analysis of four different PV systems. Based on the information gained from this study, SMUD and Caltrans will be able to determine whether to continue to the next phase of the project.