New rooftop solar array electrifying Mandalay Bay

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

11 years ago

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz tours a solar panel installment project on the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. The solar panels are scheduled to go online Nov. 28 and will supply 20 percent of the power of Mandalay Bay casino-hotel. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Newly installed solar panels are seen on the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas during a tour Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. The solar panels are scheduled to go online Nov. 28 and will supply 20 percent of the power of Mandalay Bay casino-hotel. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is interviewed during a tour of a solar panel installment project on the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. The solar panels are scheduled to go online Nov. 28 and will supply 20 percent of the power of Mandalay Bay casino-hotel. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz walks to a solar panel installment project on the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas during a tour Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. The solar panels are scheduled to go online Nov. 28 and will supply 20 percent of the power of Mandalay Bay casino-hotel. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

NGR solar employees Jeff Holland, from left, director of communications, and Randy Hickok, senior vice president of asset management, listen to Cindy Ortega, chief sustainability officer of MGM Resorts International, as she is interviewed on a newly solar panel project installed on the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. The solar panels are scheduled to go online Nov. 28 and will supply 20 percent of the power of Mandalay Bay casino-hotel. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz toured the new solar array on the roof of the convention center at Mandalay Bay during a stop in Las Vegas Wednesday.

Set to go on line in late November, the array will use 21,324 photovoltaic panels packed together on 20 acres of rooftop to generate 5 megawatts of electricity. That’s enough to supply Mandalay Bay with about 20 percent of its load and help the resort avoid buying power at peak times when energy is at its most expensive.

The array is owned by energy company NRG, which built it using federal grants that paid for about 20 percent of the panels. Cindy Ortega, chief sustainability officer for MGM Resorts, owner of Mandalay Bay, said she expects this first-of-its-kind project to lead to more solar panels on rooftops along the Strip.