Officials of the Atlantic City Convention and VisitorsAuthority, operators of the 11-year-old facility, say they havesigned a deal with the Pepco Energy Services subsidiary ofArlington, VA-based Pepco Holdings that calls for installation ofmore than 13,300 photovoltaic panels on the facility's rooftop in aproject that's expected to generate nearly 2.4 megawatts of energy.Construction is slated to start later this month, with completionby the end of December.

Under the terms of the 20-year agreement, Pepco will pay thecost of the installation, and will own and operate it. Theconvention center, which is owned by the New Jersey Sports &Exposition Authority, will then buy the electricity being generatedfrom Pepco. ACCVA officials estimate that they will save nearly$4.5 million in electricity costs over the life of thecontract.

"The ACCVA continues to embrace green initiatives and stand atthe forefront of the environmental movement," says the authority'sexecutive director, Jeffrey Vasser, in a statement. "Following Gov.Corzine's lead in taking a proactive look at environmental issues,our team has worked in conjunction with Pepco Energy in order todevelop this project, which allows us to use our natural resourcesto run the convention center more efficiently.