Huge solar array to top Las Vegas resort

One of the world’s largest rooftop solar arrays will be installed on the Las Vegas strip, according to NRG Energy and MGM Resorts.

NRG Solar will install the 6.2 megawatt array atop the Mandalay Bay Resort Conference and Convention Center, owned by MGM Resorts, the companies said. NRG Solar is a subsidiary of Princeton, N.J.-based NRG. The array will sit on a set of rooftops spanning about 20 acres and will incorporated more than 20,000 solar panels, NRG Solar spokesman Jeff Holland said.

The world’s largest rooftop solar array sits atop a GM plant in Spain and has a capacity of 12 megawatts, according to GM.

The planned Las Vegas array, which has the capacity to support about 1,000 homes, will be able to supply 20 percent of Mandalay Bay’s power needs at peak production, the companies said.

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NRG Solar CEO Tom Doyle called the move “an intelligent business decision” by MGM Resorts.

“The new 20,000 panel solar rooftop array at Mandalay Bay will effectively enable the resort to lock in a substantial component of its energy costs at a very competitive rate,” Doyle said in a statement. “Our expectation is that other corporations will follow thought-leaders like MGM Resorts to protect our planet.”

Mandalay Bay’s use of solar panels will slash peak power demand in Las Vegas during the hottest parts of the day, when air conditioners work the hardest to keep temperatures down in the city’s massive casinos, hotels and convention halls, the companies said.

MGM Resorts chose Mandalay Bay because of its “large, sun-oriented rooftop space,” the companies said.

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