The future is always bright on campus. Especially over at the Robins Center.

Last year, we cut the ribbon on Virginia’s first commercial solar array under a power purchase agreement program started by the state. At the time, we celebrated UR’s commitment to sustainability and the 749 solar panels covering the rooftop of the rec center.

Today, we’re thrilled to learn those panels have generated 276,160 kilowatt hours of electricity in the year since that ribbon cutting. (You can track the production through this dashboard).

To put that into perspective, that’s enough juice to power 28 homes for a year and equivalent to the amount of carbon sequestered annually by 183 acres of forests.

Much like our students, the array’s performance exceeded our expectations. In this case, to the tune of 16 percent more power than expected.

Happy Solar Anniversary, Spiders!