The 2.1 MW Anthony Wayne Solar Array, which is now providing electricity to the Toledo Zoo, is a finalist for Solar Builder magazine's Project of 2014 award. The public will choose the winning project. Votes can be cast through September 21.

Toledo, Ohio – The 2.1 MW Anthony Wayne Solar Array, a brownfield site which is now providing electricity to the Toledo Zoo, is a finalist for Solar Builder magazine's Project of 2014 award.

Solar Builder readers and the public will choose this year's winning project. Votes can be cast now through September 21 via the link, http://solarbuildermag.com/2014-projects-year-nominations/

Finalists were selected from nearly 30 nominees nationwide. The Anthony Wayne Solar Array is the only finalist in Ohio and the Midwest.

The solar array was designed, developed and constructed by Rudolph/Libbe and GEM Energy, of the Rudolph/Libbe Companies. The solar array and property are owned by a group of local investors led by Rudolph/Libbe Companies. The project was constructed with no out-of-pocket costs to the zoo. The zoo is purchasing about 30 percent of its electricity from the array through an exclusive power purchase agreement.

The array is located on a 22-acre Toledo brownfield site that was once in receivership. The 28,170-panel solar array is one of the largest in the U.S. to supply power to a zoo.

The project was built with Calyxo solar modules, which use innovative thin film technology developed in Toledo. Nextronex, of Toledo, provided inverters, combiner boxes, and distributed architecture for the solar array. AP Alternatives LLC, of Ridgeville Corners, supplied steel racks for the solar modules. The array will produce approximately 2.6MWh per year.

The Rudolph/Libbe Companies is among the region's largest contractors and employs 1,000-1,500 construction trades through offices in Lima, Toledo, Cleveland and Walbridge, Ohio; and Plymouth, Michigan.

GEM Energy, one of the Rudolph/Libbe Companies, is ranked among the top solar contractors in the industry by another publication, Solar Power World. For 2014, GEM Energy is ranked 28th among Solar Power World's Top 50 Solar Developers in the U.S., 70th among the magazine's Top 100 Commercial Solar Contractors, and 154th on the magazine's list of Top 400 Solar Contractors.