McGraw-Hill Pursuing Solar Panel Array

The McGraw-Hill companies are currently developing a 47-acre solar array along the south side of Princeton-Hightstown Road to reduce its carbon footprint within the township.

McGraw-Hill is pursuing this project to be a responsible citizen, as the array will reduce the production of greenhouse gases by the equivalent of 7,500 cars each year, according to Lyle Rawlings, a solar expert from Advanced Solar Products.

“The array will look like a sea of silver running to blue, depending on the angle and time of day, (with an angle) of 25 degrees,” Rawlings said.

Each solar panel within the array is around 3 inches wide and 5 inches long, each producing 240 watts of energy. This low profile array will power McGraw-Hill’s Data Center within the township’s research and office zoning district.

McGraw-Hill owns the land on which the array will stand, which has no vegetation on it. To obscure the array from the road, a landscape buffer containing mixes of wildflowers and ornamental trees will be constructed around it.

Preliminary and final major site plan approvals for the project have already been established, but details and a timeline for construction are still being considered.

Keith Smith, the project engineer for the site, said the project’s development would not adversely impact access from Princeton-Hightstown Road or take place near residences. Construction will take way in two phases, laying the stone and assembling the solar array.

Within the array will be 12 inverter pads through its center, with the wiring underground, which should not create noise that would bother residents, Rawlings said.