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Grand Canyon Railway brings solar power to Williams
Installation of solar photovoltaic system on roof of Grand Depot Café will generate 16,000 kWh per year with second project

Ryan Williams/WGCN<br>
Grand Canyon Railway recently installed solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of the Grand Depot Cafe.

Ryan Williams/WGCN<br> Grand Canyon Railway recently installed solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of the Grand Depot Cafe.

WILLIAMS - The Grand Canyon Railway (GCR) has completed its first in a series of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems with the installation of a 10-kilowatt system at the Grand Depot Café. The system will generate more than 16,000 kWh per year, or roughly the amount of electricity used by two average-sized homes.

Xanterra Parks and Resorts Vice President of Environmental Affairs Chris Lane said the project will not only provide energy to the Railway but will help the environment as well.

"We should all be extremely proud because once these systems are up and running, we simply sit back and watch the clean, carbon-free, pollution-free, renewable energy flow into our operations for decades to come," Lane said. "And, this is just one of many steps we're taking to reduce our energy usage at the Grand Canyon Railway as we look for more solar PV systems to install."

Lane noted the completion of the project was possible because of a grant from Coca Cola Company - a company preferred vendor for many years. "We were fortunate to be one of the beneficiaries of this program, and we would like to thank Coca Cola for its support," he added.

Morgan O'Connor, director of environmental affairs at Grand Canyon Railway, attended the Feb. 10 Williams City Council meeting and said he is pleased the project is finished and is ready to move forward with future endeavors.

"I'm getting a lot of feedback from the community. Folks are saying that they look great. We think they look great. We are excited to move forward with the first PV system here in the city of Williams," he said.

GCR's next solar PV system will be the installation of panels that will generate energy to heat the Grand Railway Hotel's hot water supply reducing consumption of natural gas by 70 percent. The panels will be installed on GCR's Fray Marcos building adjacent to the hotel. GCR hopes to install other solar PV systems over the next two years.

"This is an exciting project," said O'Connor. "We are hoping the city council and staff will support this project and it's exciting that we are able to have the capital money to move forward with projects like this and introduce that into this community."

Williams Mayor John Moore said on behalf of the city council that they would appreciate as much lead-time as possible on their future projects.

"We will work with you and do what we need to do to make this happen," he said. "I'm excited about this project and I think it is going to be neat to see it move forward."

The Grand Depot Café PV installation is the ninth by GCR parent company Xanterra Parks & Resorts, including a five-acre, one-megawatt (MW) system in Death Valley National Park.

Kinney Construction Services of Flagstaff installed the system.


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