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SANDY — By fall, Rio Tinto Stadium will be home to one of the largest alternative energy sports projects in the country.
Real Salt Lake Tuesday announced plans to construct a 2,020-kilowatt solar panel array system that will generate about 73 percent of the electricity needed annually to operate the facility. RSL and the USL Real Monarchs will partner with Midvale-based Auric Solar to install the state’s largest privately-owned solar array.
A system of 6,414 solar panels is being set up on the existing stadium structure as well as new covered parking areas. The project is expected to be completed and operational in October.
“We are partnering with Auric Solar to increase our power efficiency while hosting more than 50 massive events each year in Sandy,” said RSL and Monarchs owner Dell Loy Hansen. “The new solar-covered parking structures will improve the quality of parking options for our 15,000-plus season ticket holders and provide our state and the surrounding environment with the largest solar energy offset for any U.S. professional sports venue.”
The environmental impact of the new solar array carries the equivalent of removing 450 cars from the road or planting 47,278 trees annually, said Nic Evans, commercial sales manager for Auric Solar.
This project will put Real Salt Lake at the forefront of energy production in all of professional sports.
–Jess Phillips, Auric Solar.
“It’s approximately a $6 million project,” he said. “This is the largest (such project) in the state and one of the largest in the United States.”
The largest solar array at a sports venue — 9,000 kilowatts — is located at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana, followed by 3,000 kilowatt arrays at both Pocono Raceway in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania, and Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, with Rio Tinto Stadium next.
Nearly 95 percent of the solar array will be installed on new solar-covered parking structures, including an entirely new parking lot on the north side of the stadium, Evans explained.
“This project will put Real Salt Lake at the forefront of energy production in all of professional sports,” said Jess Phillips, principal of Auric Solar. “It is impressive and ambitious to see the organization’s commitment to the community and environment.”
