Yosemite Supports Alternative Energy by Installing Solar Panels

Yosemite, CA, OCT. 2 -- Yosemite National Park has issued a contract to
PowerLight Corporation of Berkeley, California to design and install solar
roofing panels for the park’s El Portal Administrative Site. The 350
photovoltaic panels will produce 47 kilowatts during peak hours, which is
about ten percent of the building’s energy demand cost during that time.

Photovoltaic cells generate electricity by using light from the sun to
produce an electrical current. Solar-generated electricity created by the
solar photovoltaic system will reduce pollution and the demand for fossil
fuels, along with supporting the park’s mission to preserve its natural and
cultural resources. The solar panels will also decrease the park’s
consumption of grid-generated electricity, saving the park and taxpayers
money, and support the President’s initiative to reduce federal energy
consumption by ten percent.

The project supports both regional National Park Service renewable energy
efforts and the Green Energy Parks Program, which is a partnership between
the Departments of Energy and Interior. The program aims to promote the use
of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies and practices in
national parks, and to educate the visiting public about these efforts. This
program also seeks to create partnerships with private-sector organizations
and other public agencies that can provide technical expertise and financial
resources to support sustainable energy projects in the parks.

The Yosemite National Park photovoltaic project is partly underwritten by
grants from the California Energy Commission and the Distributed Energy
Resources program, which is under the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy
Management Program.

About PowerLight
PowerLight (www.powerlight.com) is the nation's leading designer,
manufacturer and installer of commercial solar electric systems. Founded in
1991, PowerLight's products deliver reliable, affordable clean power for
commercial and government customers throughout the US and worldwide. In 2000,
Inc. Magazine ranked PowerLight among the top 200 fastest growing privately
held companies in the US. Today, PowerLight has six offices worldwide and a
full line of commercial solar electric products.

-NPS-

Contact: Scott Gediman, Yosemite National Park (209) 372-0248
Susan DeVico, PowerLight (415) 434-8220