Building Land and Technology's Silicon Harbor office building has a new rooftop solar system, unveiled Sept. 26. Photo courtesy of Patrick Sikes Photography
One of Connecticut’s largest rooftop solar installations was unveiled Thursday at the 500,000-square-foot Silicon Harbor office complex in Stamford’s Harbor Point. Building Land and Technology (BLT), owner of Silicon Harbor and builder of the larger Harbor Point development, joined community members and elected officials to officially launch the system, which is expected to generate 732,400 kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable energy per year, enough to power 70 homes.
ENGIE Services U.S. installed 587.2 kilowatts of solar panels on the rooftop of the Silicon Harbor complex. The solar power system will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of Silicon Harbor and reflects BLT’s commitment to developing next-generation sustainable workplaces. Silicon Harbor’s solar installation is expected to produce enough renewable energy to offset up to 10 percent of the property’s consumption when it is fully occupied.
“Our goal is to make Silicon Harbor stand out as an environmental leader, and the launch of our solar installation is a giant step in that direction,” BLT Chairman Carl R. Kuehner, III said in a statement. “This cutting edge technology allows for massive gains in building efficiency and emission reduction and we want to be doing our part.”
Silicon Harbor is located in Harbor Point, a LEED-ND Gold certified mixed-use development on the South End waterfront of Stamford. The buliding formerly housed Pitney Bowes’ corporate headquarters, and has been repositioned by BLT for modern, multi-tenant use.
Much of Harbor Point is a redevelopment of several former brownfield sites that BLT has remediated through the development process. BLT’s remediation work on nearly 100 acres of formerly contaminated land in the South End and Waterside neighborhoods of Stamford was selected by Brownfield Coalition of the Northeast as winner of the Sustainable Communities Brownfield Redevelopment Award in 2018.
Construction of the solar installation began in late March, and the system was first energized this summer.
“Our team made sure to work around the needs of the owner and occupants, minimizing interruptions and distractions,” Daniel Stewart, business development engineer at ENGIE Services U.S. said in a statement.
ENGIE Services U.S. performed the work in partnership with Reflective Energy Solutions, an energy broker headquartered in northern New Jersey and dedicated to helping commercial, industrial and municipal customers make smarter energy decisions and investments.
