Constellation Wins $45 Million Prison Contract To Implement Solar + Energy Efficiency At FCC Coleman In Florida

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

A $45 million contract to implement energy + water efficiency measures, and to install a 2 megawatt (MW) solar system, at the Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Florida (FCC Coleman), was recently awarded to the company Constellation.

The fulfillment of the contract — which was awarded by the Federal Bureau of Prisons — is expected to save the bureau roughly $79 million in energy costs over the next 19 years.

image

This project serves as yet another example (along with the US Navy’s moves toward solar in Florida) of those with an eye towards the substantial benefits of solar energy deployment in Florida embracing the technology — in spite of the hostile (but improving?) political/legislative environment in the “Sunshine State.”

“Constellation is delighted to serve the FCC Coleman and support its effort in achieving its federal energy and environmental performance mandates,” stated John Dukes, executive director of federal and public sector sales for Constellation. “Working as a team with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and FCC Coleman personnel, we developed an energy project that is expected to deliver an exceptional volume of renewable energy generation and replace antiquated, inefficient infrastructure and equipment with new energy efficient infrastructure and equipment. The upgrades are designed to improve energy security while providing significant cost savings through energy and water intensity reductions and increasing the use of renewable energy for the site.”

Altogether, the fulfillment of the contract is expected to reduce total energy use intensity at FCC Coleman by 35%, and reduce water use intensity by ~50%, according to Dukes. The estimate is that ~18 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity and 194 million gallons of water will be “saved” annually thanks to the upgrades. That results in the offset of around 323,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 19 years.

For a bit of background — FCC Coleman is composed of 5 different facilities, 2.4 million square feet of building area, and is home (in a way) to over 7,400 inmates.

Construction work is currently expected to be completed sometime in 2017.

Image Credit: Constellation


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

James Ayre has 4830 posts and counting. See all posts by James Ayre