Pilkington Plans Solar Project in Northwood

Toledo-based glass maker Pilkington North America Inc. will install a $1.4 million solar array at its plant in Northwood, thanks in part to a state and federal grant that will offset nearly half the cost.The 3,450-panel project, to be built by fall 2010 at the company’s Plant 21 site on East Broadway, is one of 25 alternative-energy projects in Ohio that will share more than $13 million in federal stimulus money, Gov. Ted Strickland said.

The 250-kilowatt solar field is to be built on a former brownfield and is to supply power to Pilkington’s research and development facility, said Steve Giles, a spokesman with Hull & Associates Inc. of Dublin, Ohio, which will build the array for the glass maker. The state awarded Hull $680,782 for the project.