Levin installs 1-megawatt solar array atop Smithton distribution facility

Robert Levin, chairman of Levin Furniture, was a fan of solar energy long before it could earn him tax incentives.

Levin had a solar array installed at his Monroeville furniture store in 2004. Almost two years ago, he had solar installed at his home.

On Wednesday, Levin flipped the switch on the largest solar array on a retail facility in Western Pennsylvania. A 1-megawatt system is expected to generate about 70% of the power needs at his Smithton distribution facility.

“We really try to do as much as we can to focus on sustainability,” Levin said. “We bale and recycle our plastic, and we have a machine that shreds and condenses Styrofoam into bricks that we can package and sell.”

And while people in the Pittsburgh region like to joke that the sun goes away in October and comes back in April, “the difference is not nearly as dramatic as people think,” said Greg Winks of Solbridge Energy Advisors in Mt. Lebanon, who worked with Levin on the Smithton project and on his home solar array. “You have to look at it on an annual basis.”

Winks and Sheldon Stutzman, a solar energy consultant with Paradise Energy Solutions just east of Lancaster, said the Pittsburgh area experiences a daily average of four hours of usable sunlight.

“We did a solar workshop in the region a few weeks ago,” Stutzman said. “And even with a light rain falling, we can show people that the array is still producing.”

The solar array on Levin’s Smithton facility took about two months to complete. Its environmental impact is roughly equivalent to removing 828 tons of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere.

Levin’s array is coming online amid the backdrop of the COP26 climate conference, where the U.S. and other countries that entered the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1994 discussed ways to fight global warming.

Sustainability is a big part of that effort, on multiple fronts.

At the University of Pittsburgh, the Center for Sustainable Business at the Joseph M. Katz School of Business recently received $800,000 from the Heinz Endowment to continue helping companies learn how to leverage investments in sustainability.

“Our mission is to help companies tackle that all-important question of how to best embed sustainability throughout the organization,” said C.B. Bhattacharya, the H.J. Zoffer Chair in Sustainability and Ethics, who leads the center.

The center’s three priorities are to increase the number of companies working toward a 2030 goal of being carbon-free, encouraging companies to employ a workforce representative of their communities, and increasing environmental, social and governance literacy throughout the region.

Lagging behind

Pennsylvania could use the encouragement, according to a new report by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center. The state ranks 23rd in the nation for growth in solar power generation since 2011, according to the report released this week.

Winks said neighboring states New York, New Jersey and Maryland are leading the way when it comes to growing the use of solar power.

Nationwide, the U.S. produced nearly four times as much renewable electricity in 2020 than in 2011. If wind, solar and geothermal power generation continue increasing at the same 15% annual rate, renewables theoretically could generate enough power to meet the nation’s electricity needs by 2035, the report predicts.

Levin said part of the reason he chose to install the solar array in Smithton was how much more affordable it has become.

“The cost of solar has really dropped, almost a 90% drop over the years,” Levin said. “It’s not an unreasonable investment.”

Winks said the quality and longevity of solar arrays also has gotten better over time.

“They can bank on this producing at a minimum level for about the next 25 years,” he said.

It is the fifth solar installation at a Levin facility. “We’ve had great partners on the project, and we’re thrilled with the outcome,” Levin said.