MGM Resorts International has partnered with NRG Energy on the planned installation of a large rooftop solar photovoltaic array at the Mandalay Bay Resort Convention Center in Las Vegas.
The 20,000 panel, 6.2 MW installation will be MGM Resorts’ first commercial solar project in the US, and it will be among the largest in the world, MGM said.
At peak production, the rooftop array is expected to produce nearly 20 percent of the Mandalay Bay’s power demand. It also will lower demand on the southern Nevada electricity grid at the hottest time of the day, the companies said.
Once the project – designed and developed by NRG Solar – is completed along the resort's 20-acre rooftop, Mandalay Bay will buy the energy created by the array though a power purchase agreement.
MGM Resorts International operates destination resort brands including Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage. The company has reduced its natural resource consumption through its Green Advantage sustainability plan. Over the past five years, the company said that it has reduced its energy intensity by more than 12 percent, and has also saved a total of more than 2.5 billion gallons of water.
Elsewhere, Chint/Astronergy announced that it has completed a 10 MW PV power plant in Hangzhou, China, on the rooftop of the newly-built Hangzhou East Railway Station, a transportation hub in the Yangtze River Delta area.
The project covers an area of 120,000 square meters and consists of 44,000 PV panels, and it is expected to generate more than 10,000,000 kWh per year, Chint/Astronergy said.
A portion of the generated electricity will be used to offset lighting energy consumption within the building, and all other electricity will be delivered to the local grid, the solar panel manufacturer said.
