Gov. Tom Wolf's commitment to powering 40% to 50% of the state government with solar energy could boost the solar energy market and make the technology more accepted in society, said a local business owner who uses solar power.

Wolf announced Monday that nearly 50% of state government's electricity will be produced by seven new solar energy arrays totaling 191 megawatts that will be built in the eastern central part of the state and go into operation Jan. 1, 2023. He said the Project to Utilize Light and Solar Energy (PULSE) is the largest solar commitment by any government in the country to date.“When any newish technology is embraced by a large organization, like government or a chain or industry, that can have a large impact in a metaphorical sense and a physical sense,” said T. Lyle Ferderber, founder and owner of Frankferd Farms Organic Foods in Saxonburg. “It impacts the marketplace and the direction society is taking.”PULSE involves building solar arrays in seven locations in six counties: Columbia, Juniata, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and York. When completed, the arrays are expected to deliver 361,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year, supplying 100% of the electricity for 434 accounts across 16 state agencies, or about half the electricity used by state government, Wolf said.The project will create 400 jobs and begin lowering carbon dioxide emissions statewide by 157,800 metric tons each year: the equivalent of the emissions from nearly 27,000 homes, or taking 34,000 cars off the roads, Wolf said.Ferderber, who has two solar arrays at his family-owned farm that specializes in organic, local, bulk and specialty foods, said the movement toward renewable energy should be slow but steady.“Slow and steady is safer and more predictable than rushing toward something, like no petroleum or no carbon in a certain amount of time,” Ferderber said. “When you do it slow and steady, you solve problems as they come up.”He said slow and steady growth is easier for people to accept and will give power grid operators more time to learn to deal with smaller, independent sources of power.Ferderber said he has seen a few new solar panels go up in Western Pennsylvania in the past few years and calls it a step in the right direction.The Department of General Services contracted with Constellation, a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission-licensed electric generation supplier, to secure a 15-year fixed-price supply agreement.PULSE is a product of Wolf's GreenGov initiative.“In issuing the GreenGov challenge, I charged state government with leading by example in demonstrating sustainable governance and lowering greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the risks of climate change in Pennsylvania,” Wolf said. “This included significantly reducing energy use and pursuing an ambitious goal of obtaining at least 40% of electricity from clean energy generated in the state.”The GreenGov initiative calls for state agencies to reach energy efficiency and performance goals, and incorporation of environmentally sustainable practices into the state's policy, planning, operations, procurement and regulatory functions.

Gov. Tom Wolf