Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn speaks Thursday at a dedication ceremony for the solar panels at Moraine State Park.

State officials and Moraine State Park staff unveiled the new solar panels being built to support the park's sewage plant.

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn visited Thursday with the Bureau of State Park officials to dedicate and celebrate the solar technology with Moraine State Park staff.

Dunn said the dedication was part of the “Sustainability Tour” showcasing long-term investment in energy conservation.

“Today we are dedicating our 13th solar installation at DCNR, and it's our largest so far,” Dunn said. “It will bring this water sewage treatment plant to net zero.”

Net zero means the panels will produce enough energy to cover the needs of the sewage plant. The panels will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 186 tons per year and cut the electric bill $25,000 annually.

With Moraine's solar project as the 13th, DCNR plans to add six more projects in other parks within the next two years.

“This is part of our commitment to promote conservation and renewables and demonstrate for the public just how important these types of investments are,” Dunn said. “It's a unique and interesting way to save Pennsylvanians money.”

Park manager Dustin Drew said the contractor, Steve Spotts of Spotts Brothers Construction of Schuylkill Haven, Pa., has worked for the past several weeks to build the supporting structures and install two of the eight sets of panels.

Drew said optimistically the project will be finished in a few weeks, but the contractors are still waiting on the panels to arrive.

“We can't wait until all the panels are on and it's online,” Drew said.

Dunn said building the solar projects statewide is part of an effort to modernize the way the state reduces energy costs. She said projects that incorporate technology, even into departments or areas generally thought of as being natural, can happen and will continue to develop as younger generations become more comfortable with those ideas.

“I think the solar display is the most visible,” Dunn said. “It's so easy to see and understand.”

Dunn said an example would be the use of electric and hybrid cars in the state government's fleet of vehicles. She said younger generations can improve their natural environment through technology, including in places like Moraine.

“Projects like this will spawn from that thinking,” Dunn said.