OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2014. Work has begun on the installation of a new solar energy system to provide power to Verizon’s Long Island headquarters complex in Garden City.

The new solar project will place more than 7,000 SunPower solar panels on the roof of Verizon’s building at 741 Zeckendorf Blvd., which already generates 6 million kilowatt hours of green energy annually from a fuel-cell system built in 2005.

The Garden City solar project is expected to be completed and operational by the end of this year. It is one of Verizon’s many on-site green energy projects in the New York City area: Fuel cells at five New York City telecommunications-switching locations (one each in Staten Island and Queens, and three in Brooklyn) and at a data center in Elmsford in Westchester County. Altogether, Verizon has invested more than \\$60 million in green energy in New York.

Verizon’s Green Energy Equivalent to Powering More Than 3,000 Homes

Upon completion of the new Long Island solar project, Verizon will operate more than 6.7 megawatts of green energy systems in the state. The combined fuel cell and solar energy systems will produce more than 40 million kilowatt hours of green energy annually. Verizon’s total green energy efforts in New York are expected to offset more than 4,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, or the equivalent of powering more than 3,000 homes annually.

Approximately 7,000 solar panels, each weighing 47 pounds, were delivered to the Garden City location in late September, and hoisted onto the three different roofs that connect the building. SunPower is installing the panels across the more than six acres of rooftop space atop Verizon’s Garden City facility facing the unobstructed southern sky.

“From the investments we make in our networks, to the philanthropic and nonprofits we support, to strategically smart on-site green energy projects such as this one in Garden City and elsewhere, Verizon is improving the quality of life in the communities we serve in New York,” said Leecia Eve, vice president of state government affairs for Verizon New York. “Verizon’s investments in and commitment to New York are helping to position the state to compete and to continue to move forward economically.”