A solar power purchase agreement (PPA) is a financial agreement between a solar project developer and customer. The developer agrees to design, build, and deliver the solar power from the system while the customer agrees to purchase the power generated by the system. In this case, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) is purchasing solar electricity from AES, the developer.  

Many of our Ivy+ peers have signed PPAs as well (mostly solar, but some wind), but Penn’s is the largest at 220 MW. 

• Johns Hopkins - 175 MW 
• Stanford - 67 MW 
• MIT - 44 MW 
• Georgetown - 32.5 MW 
• Harvard - 12 MW 

In terms of the Pennsylvania region, many of our peers have signed PPAs as well, but again, Penn’s is by far the largest. 

• Penn State - 70 MW 
• Partnership between Lehigh, Lafayette, Muhlenberg, and Dickinson - 45.9 MW 
• University of Pittsburgh - 17 MW 

Penn has assessed the available roof space on campus and determined at this time that there is not enough space on campus to develop a sizable solar capacity. 

There is always going to be market risk of market prices falling below our locked in price. In response to these concerns, we analyzed various scenarios that used current forward market pricing to evaluate the market risk over 25 years. The results showed a low level of risk for market prices to drop below our contracted price over the life of the PPA, well within the accepted levels for the University. 

We do not have plans for another PPA at present. We are currently focusing on reduction of energy consumption on campus, which will reduce what we need to buy from the grid. Additionally, Penn has a goal of carbon neutrality by 2042. We are currently assessing a variety of avenues to achieve that goal. 

Penn is procuring power from a solar developer and will not be involved in operation or maintenance of the facility. Any job training is outside of our purview. 

Penn is working with the solar developer and the Environmental Innovations Initiative to identify research projects that are mutually beneficial. More information will be shared as available.  

The project will put Penn on a solid path to its goal of carbon neutrality. These benefits were seen as optimal for Penn’s desire to address carbon emissions in mitigating the effects of climate change. Other potential impacts were considered but not included in the analysis

The project is expected to have a 35-40 year life. The project will be decommissioned at the end of its life. The steel posts that support the racking structure that hold the panels are pounded into the ground with no concrete footers so they can be fully removed at the end of the project’s life. Steel and aluminum parts are expected to be recycled. Solar panels are more than 80% glass and aluminum, so recycling of the panels is expected as well. The solar panel recycling industry is in its early stages of development as the vast majority of panels manufactured are still in operation. There are facilities in the US and abroad, and we expect solar panel recycling to grow as more and more panels are decommissioned. 

Penn's primary commitment was to create additionality of alternative energy production. Over the 25-year contract, the rates are competitive with projected conventional electricity prices. 

The PPA provides ~70% of Penn’s electricity of the academic campus and University of Pennsylvania Health System in the Greater Philadelphia area annually from a renewable source - approximately 400,000 MWh. This project reduces over 130,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equaling an estimated 26% reduction of the academic campus’ emissions from its 2009 baseline. 

The PPA contact includes $50,000/year for education and/or training associated with technical, operational, and economic aspects of renewable energy and energy storage. Currently, Penn researchers are exploring the impact of solar facilities on soil health at the Great Cove I & 2 facilities.  You can read more on the Environmental Innovation Initiative’s Website (The soils beneath the solar fields | UPenn EII). 

By reducing Penn’s emissions, Penn is helping the City of Philadelphia meet their citywide goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, and support’s PA’s Climate Action Plan by increasing renewable energy generation. 

The Motus Wildlife Tracking System, a wildlife tracking technology that emerged in 2014, has the power to fill in the gaps about where, when, how, and why birds migrate, without needing to recapture individual birds. A program of Bird Studies Canada in partnership with collaborating researchers and organizations, Motus consists of an array of antennae installed at a variety of locations, enabling researchers to remotely track birds equipped with ultralight nanotags. The tags “ping” the towers when a bird flies within approximately 15 kilometers (around 9 miles) of an antenna, generating a record that can be accessed by anyone on the Motus website.

In Spring 2018, The Green Fund supported the installation of a Motus station on the roof of David Rittenhouse Laboratory, helping fill in a spatial gap in the detection system, as these stations are primarily installed in more rural areas.

Read more in Penn Today. 

Master of Environmental Studies student, Chloe Cerwinka C'19, conducted research leading a series of bird surveys on campus, acquiring a robust dataset she utilized as the basis of her master’s capstone.

Birds are ubiquitous, intricately connected to habitat, sensitive to environmental changes and their presence can indicate ecosystem function. Situated along a major bird migration route, Penn provides important stop-over habitat for migrating birds and a foraging and nesting habitat for resident birds. Analysis of diversity, abundance, and behavior reveals how the campus landscape provides essential habitat. Point-count surveys and area searches at representative habitat typologies on campus were conducted during migration and breeding seasons in 2018 and 2019. Systematic and incidental data collection resulted in 84 species from 34 families, with a total of 3,777 detections of birds recorded. Enhancing bird-friendly design guidelines and improving campus habitat and management strategies could have a broad impact on landscape connectivity and bird species richness. 

Read more from Penn Today.

Penn's Student Eco-Reps have been instrumental in advancing research and initiatives aimed at mitigating bird collisions on campus. 

In the 2019-20 academic year, Eco-Reps Ryan Lam and Avni Limdi collaborated with Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) and the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) to meticulously track bird strikes, documenting species and pinpointing hotspots of collision. Drawing on best practices from other institutions, they also developed impactful messaging to raise awareness about this pressing environmental concern. 

Building on this foundation, in the 2021-22 academic year, Eco-Reps Ennie Akinwunmi, Gabriel Torrebiarte, and Lorraina Rojas utilized Penn's campus as a dynamic living lab to enhance bird habitat within an urban landscape. Their efforts involved not only monitoring bird strikes but also identifying strategic opportunities for outreach initiatives, solidifying Penn's commitment to fostering a bird-friendly environment.

The Fall 2022 'Disrupt the Reflection' competition, spearheaded by Bird-Friendly Penn (a collaboration with Penn Facilities & Real Estate Services Landscape Architecture Group and Penn Sustainability) and Stuart Weitzman School of Design, ignited a wave of creativity among Weitzman students, inviting them to tackle the urgent issue of bird collisions on campus. The competition drew attention to the critical role of design in mitigating the risks posed by glass windows to bird species traversing the Atlantic Americas Flyway. These innovative concepts, designs for exterior window film for select buildings in order to reduce fatal collisions (“bird strikes”), ranging from abstract patterns to musical compositions inspired by bird calls, demonstrated a thoughtful approach to not only safeguarding birds but also fostering awareness and connection between humans and the natural world. The competition winners and their designs now stand as testaments to the power of design to disrupt harmful reflections and harmonize our built environment with the needs of wildlife.

‘Disrupt the Reflection’ Competition Winners Announced

Penn Housekeeping staff are often the first people on campus each day, and since many bird-strikes occur around dawn, they are in an ideal position to assist with campus bird-strike monitoring. Every spring and fall migration, Housekeeping staff monitor buildings on campus for bird-window collisions and alert the Penn Bird Strikes team when they find a dead bird. This information gets entered into the iNaturalist Penn Bird Strikes Project website. As monitoring occurs on a grassroots basis, this strategy allows us to increase the amount of data we have about bird-window collisions on campus and determine hot-spots for future mitigation efforts.

The Penn School of Medicine's Johnson Pavilion and the Penn Vet School’s Hill Pavilion have undergone a significant transformation, thanks to a Green Fund project aimed at mitigating bird strikes. Through the strategic retrofitting of glass windows with horizontal lines spaced no more than 4 inches apart vertically, these buildings have become safer environments for migratory birds during the critical spring migration period. The success of this endeavor, which was supported by the Green Fund in spring 2015, underscores Penn's commitment to environmental stewardship and innovation. By proactively addressing the issue of bird collisions, Penn stands at the forefront alongside a select few institutions pioneering solutions in this area. With the initial success of the retrofitting project, attention has now turned to identifying potential sites for future treatments, offering opportunities for further replication or exploration of alternative approaches to enhance bird safety across campus.

Learn more about Penn's Bird-Friendly Buildings.