Submitted by ADeFrancesco on

Award Winning DAR Constitution Hall Solar Panel Array

Lynn Young, President General

I am so thrilled to tell you that the solar panel array on the roof of DAR Constitution Hall has won a prestigious industry award!

APS America, a company that offers advanced, powerful solar microinverter technology for commercial and residential systems, asked its partners to submit their best, most outstanding solar installations from the past year. Our very own Constitution Hall solar installation was awarded the APS Commercial Project for the Year for 2014!

The solar panel array on Constitution Hall is a standout because of the special challenges our historic building presents. The Hall is a Registered National Historic Landmark Building and therefore the building façade must adhere to certain regulations to preserve its historical integrity. Additionally, it’s no surprise that construction practices 85 years ago were much different during this time. The surface area of Constitution Hall’s roof is smaller than the average contemporary building which typically have a solar array installations and it cannot withstand as much weight as these newer buildings.

TenKsolar and Standard Solar, the wonderful companies we worked with on this project, were able to design and create a solution that would fit our needs. The solar panel array that now sits on the roof of Constitution Hall is in accordance with National Historic Landmark regulations because it is unable to be seen at street level and it contains more panels, while still being lighter weight, and produces more energy than an average solar array.  Per year it is expected to produce 100,786 kWh of energy and will help offset its energy demand. The energy produced by the system saves the equivalent of 69.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide which is an annual offset equal to that of 57.1 acres of forest or a reduction of 7,820 gallons of gasoline consumed. You can follow along to see how much energy we are conserving in real time.

I am so pleased with this state-of-the-art addition to our building and I am thrilled that our creative rooftop solar array solution can now help to serve as a replicable model for other historic properties that wish to become more sustainable.

During our 125th anniversary year, I am proud that our organization continues to change with the times and embrace innovative technologies that benefit the DAR, the Washington, D.C. community and the environment.

This new advancement for our National Headquarters building is possible because of your donations to the President General’s Project. Thank you so much for your continued support of this wonderful project.