WV DEP solar panel project nearing completion

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A project to install solar panels at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection headquarters in Charleston is nearly finished.

Panels have been installed on the roof of the DEP building and are expected to begin generating electricity later this summer, according to a news release from the department. That will make it the first West Virginia government building to be partially powered by the sun.

The two-year, $291,168 project is being funded by the 2009 federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the news release states. The project also includes installation of a rooftop solar hot water system.

Mountain View Solar & Wind, of Berkeley Springs is the contractor on the project, according to the news release.

"This project will increase our energy efficiency which, in turn, will reduce our energy and water consumption, as well as associated utility, operations and maintenance costs," DEP Sustainability Officer Greg Adolfson said in the news release.