Constellation Energy has signed a 20-year federal contract with the U.S. Department of State (DOS) for solar and wind development in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The power purchase agreement (PPA) will provide an estimated 120,000 MWh of energy annually to the DOS and other federal government facilities.
Constellation Energy plans to construct a $50 million solar project on a 40-acre site in New Jersey by mid-2012. The solar panels for the project will be constructed by UNICOR, the federal prison industries service established in 1934 to provide job-skills training to inmates and produce market-priced goods for the federal government.
Constellation Energy has also committed to purchase power produced by a wind facility that will be developed in Pennsylvania under a long-term PPA. In addition, Constellation Energy will supply to the DOS Green-e Energy certified renewable energy certificates sourced from renewable energy facilities located within the U.S. pursuant to the contract.
The DOS, as well as other federal government facilities covered by the contract (including the White House campus), expects to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions associated with domestic electricity consumption by approximately 30% to 35% by December 2012, Constellation Energy adds.
SOURCE: Constellation Energy
Comment: Is this part of some master plan to use prison labor to compete with the Chinese and keep solar costs low? Seems like there should be a better way - like giving jobs to people who aren't in prison. I'm just saying.
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