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Yosemite National Park stretches across the western Sierra Nevada mountains in eastern California. The wild and majestic home of imposing rock cliffs, Giant Sequoias and mammoth waterfalls, among other attractions, plans to add a more modern natural wonder this fall: solar power.

Yosemite is spending $4.4 million of Recovery Act funding to install solar panels on new shade structures and existing buildings at the El Portal administration center, according to the Merced Sun-Star. Upon completion it will be the largest solar power installation in a national park in the United States.

The system will produce approximately 800,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of solar power annually. That’s enough to save the park 12 percent on its energy bills each year and, using 13 cents per kWh as a benchmark, save the park roughly $104,000 as well.

There are a total of 58 solar installations in the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service. The soon-to-be Yosemite installation will double the amount of solar electricity produced in that region all by itself.

Other notable solar installations at National Parks include the Visitor Center at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

Photo Credit: MW

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Alcatraz Island is going solar. Known best as the most famous prison in the United States, Alcatraz is also home to the oldest lighthouse on the West Coast, and what was once a beacon for ships entering the Bay Area will now serve as a beacon for solar energy.

The National Park Service announced in the first week of March that Alcatraz will be equipped with 1,000 solar photovoltaic panels, to be installed on the main prison and laundry building. The panels will provide between 40 and 60 percent of the prison’s electricity needs and eliminate the need for two diesel generators that currently cost $700,000 annually to operate.

The solar system will be installed this spring using money drawn from the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package. The projected cost of the solar power system has not been released.

Alcatraz began as a military prison in 1861, was taken over by the Bureau of Prisons in 1934, and became home to some of America’s most notorious criminals, including Al Capone. In late 1969, a group of Native American activists occupied the prison for 19 months and nine days, winning several key victories for Native rights, including the rescinding by President Nixon of the Indian termination policy designed to end federal recognition of native tribes. Alcatraz is now a popular tourist attraction and home to some unique flora and fauna.

Via San Jose Mercury News and Wikipedia

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

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