Did you know, for example, that at least two breweries in Saint Louis use solar power to reduce their demands on the grid? It’s true! We had the opportunity to visit one of them, The Civil Life, and see their solar panels. The array at this brewery is made from all American-made panels. Busch Stadium has enough solar power on Ford Plaza to power all of the team stores–that’s about 20-30% of their total power usage! Saint Louis is also going to be home to the region’s only solar-powered laundromat, the Washateria. When it opens, the solar arrays at Washateria are expected to help the Washateria generate enough electricity to feed back into the grid during off-peak laundromat usage times so that the laundromat draws basically zero net power from the grid over the course of the entire month. J.E. Novack construction has an array attached to their shingle roof in Saint Louis County that generates nearly 25kW in solar electricity to green their business. The Moonrise Hotel on the fabulous Delmar Loop has a solar panel awning at their rooftop bar that uses microinverters to generate green electricity for the bar and hotel.

Check out our photos from the Saint Louis Solar Tour 2012, below. Center photo is the solar kiosk at Busch Stadium. Outer ring of photos clockwise starting with the left corner: Busch stadium solar awning and information center, Busch Stadium flags, revolving moon at The Moonrise Hotel, Moonrise solar awning at the rooftop bar (microinverter closeup), Moonrise solar awning, Washateria’s energy efficient machines, Washateria’s solar panels, JE Novack Construction, Civil Life Brewery’s building and solar panels, and a peek at the brew tanks inside Civil Life Brewery.

http://www.pjm.com/~/media/documents/ferc/2011-filings/20111003-er11-2875-000.ashx