Blog-Normal Distribution - Analytic lessons and random observations by John Sall, JMP creator and SAS co-founder

I had the privilege to lead off a press event this morning for North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue at the SAS Solar Farm in Cary, NC. It was a beautiful photo event on a small hill overlooking the field. Here are my remarks:

Good morning and welcome to the SAS Solar Farm. I am John Sall, co-founder of SAS Institute.

This field of solar panels was completed last December; it has 5,040 panels, generates 1 megawatt of electic power at peak and is projected to produce 1.7 million KWH per year. The panels swivel to track the sun across the sky. This solar farm will eliminate 1,600 tons of carbon emissions annually.

The solar field occupies 4.8 acres of land -- and we also use the field as a pasture for Dorper Sheep (short sheep that fit better under the panels).

Eventually, the revenues from this facility will repay our investment, but only because of the generous state and federal tax credits and NC GreenPower electric rates. Without the incentives, this solar-generating facility would not have been built.

I hope that federal legislation will be forthcoming to make alternative energy and energy conservation economic by a federal charge on fossil carbon energy sourcing; this would be the most effective, efficient and ultimately the least painful way to a sustainable energy future. Until that becomes politically viable, other measures, such as alternative energy subsidies and quantity limits will at least move us in the right direction toward sustainability and energy security.

This solar farm is one of several energy initiatives at SAS. We aim to conserve energy use as we grow more jobs here:

• Our next building, under construction over there behind those trees, is designed to achieve LEED certification at least at the Silver level.
  
• Elsewhere, our forthcoming cloud computing facility will use energy-efficient computer systems.
  
• We recently published our second annual corporate sustainability and social responsibility report, which summarizes these and other efforts.
  

SAS is happy to call North Carolina home, with the state’s support for business, research and higher education, all of this enabling better jobs, better health and long-term sustainability.

North Carolina has many opportunities in alternative energy: in solar, in biofuels and in wind. Recently, the federal Department of the Interior, under Ken Salazar, made the first step to unlock leasing for offshore wind farms, and North Carolina has some of the best opportunities.

North Carolina is a home for energy research, too. We congratulate NC State University, which last year was appointed the lead institution for a smart grid NSF grant, which led to the FREEDM Systems Center (Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management).

We welcome everyone here to this new energy farm, and we look forward to our governor’s announcements on the subject of sustainability.

It is my privilege to introduce the Governor of the State of North Carolina, Bev Perdue.




Dale Carroll, Deputy Secretary of NC Department of Commerce (left); Hilda Pinnix-Ragland, Vice President of Corporate Public Affairs for Progress Energy (second from left); and NC Gov. Bev Perdue (center) join Jerry Williams of SAS (second from right) and me (right) at the SAS Solar Farm this morning. The Dorper Sheep are in the background.

Photo by Steve Muir, SAS