Honey to be Produced at Lawrenceville School

Edtior's Note: The following is a news release that was issued by .

The Lawrenceville School's 6-megawatt solar energy power farm, which will provide more than 90 percent of the school's electrical needs, just got a little sweeter.

A bee-friendly wild flower mix will be planted between, beneath and around the solar panels, and a professional bee-keeper will place hives around the array to produce honey for the school and for sale in local farmers' markets. Construction is expected to begin in October.

Local beekeeper Pier V. Guidi of Bamboo Hollow Apiaries and Honey Farms LLC (Hillsborough, N.J.) will provide the bees, tend the hives, and produce the honey. Howard Myers (Lawrenceville School Class of 1965), who has farmed the land for more than a decade, will plant wildflowers for the bees to pollinate. The array will be constructed by KDC Solar LLC.

The solar farm will utilize single axis "solar trackers" which follow the sun's path, boosting electrical output. The array, along with collaborative educational programs, will offer a "live laboratory" for Lawrenceville students to work with state-of-the-art solar design.

Fully operational, the solar array will produce 8,500 megawatt-hours annually of clean electricity or more than 90 percent of the School's needs, offset 5,300 tons of carbon dioxide, and provide a setting to teach sustainable energy and the use of materials, land, and water in ways that promote ecological literacy and sustainability.

The natural slope of the 30-acre site, currently part of a 268-acre farm that is a part of Lawrenceville's 650-acre campus, will make the solar farm invisible from Route 206 and only partially visible from Lewisville Road.

"We're delighted that our land will now produce two 'crops' simultaneously – energy and honey – as well as provide a healthy habitat for bees and wildflowers," said Lawrenceville's acting Head Master Graham Cole. "This use of clean energy helps the Lawrenceville School fulfill its Green Campus Initiative, a holistic approach to campus sustainability, and it will benefit the broader community outside of the School."

KDC Solar LLC is a leading commercial solar developer, owner, and operator headquartered in Bedminster, N.J. Presently KDC Solar has more than 40 MWs of behind-the-meter solar facilities in construction in New Jersey and expects to have more than 15 MWs in operation by year end. KDC Solar is supported by an allocation of $225 million in equity from Diamond Castle Holdings, a New York-based private equity fund with more than $1.8 billion of committed capital under management.

Founded in 1810, The Lawrenceville School offers a comprehensive, coeducational program for 810 students in grades nine through post-graduate, who come from 33 states and 33 countries. The School is located in the historic village of Lawrenceville, N.J. For additional information, please visit www.lawrenceville.org.