Washington

How Metro achieved a $25 million solar power revenue stream

Published

2 years ago

February 8, 2024

How Metro achieved a million solar power revenue stream

Washington Metro: Renewable energy from station parking lots to power local homes

Washington Metro is one of the largest rapid transit systems in the US, with 98 stations covering Washington DC as well as several jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia.

Alongside its own sustainability goals, Metro also supports those of the different jurisdictions in which it operates and, as a large landowner with over 1000 acres of property, Metro realized it had a unique opportunity to use these assets for solar panel installations. This was particularly important as there are not many places in this urban area to accommodate such large solar arrays – Metro is one of the few organizations with a real estate footprint big enough to make it happen.

How to turn this opportunity into the region’s largest aggregate solar project?

This is the largest ever aggregate solar project in the Washington DC area and is a complex undertaking. Photovoltaic solar panels are being installed over existing parking lots and garages at four stations – Anacostia, Naylor Road, Cheverly and Southern Avenue. As well as working with a relatively new technology and leveraging private investment, the locations mean navigating different local jurisdictions and utility providers. And because the solar panels are being installed over active parking lots and garages, construction and installation needs to be managed so that the project does not disrupt customers or services.

JLL brought a team together from across their business with capital markets experience to find the right investment partner; project finance experts to understand available incentives for solar projects; and project management and sustainability experts to manage the overall delivery.

Because of their experience of working with other clients on similar complex leasing structures, JLL could support Metro at every stage of the project, working closely with their different stakeholders as well as utility companies, developers and lenders to find the right solutions.

The result is 11 acres of solar panels, powering the equivalent of 1,100 homes, and delivering clean energy for at least the next 25 years. And alongside that main goal, the project delivers improvements to Metro’s own customer experience as commuters will enjoy shade and improved lighting at the stations as they walk to and from their vehicles.

Success that points to the opportunities ahead.

The solar project is a great example of Metro’s ability to leverage its assets to meet its sustainability goals, and its success has encouraged Metro to look at other opportunities. The next plan is to install EV charging infrastructure at its parking lots. As well as contributing to reducing Metro’s own carbon emissions, this will hopefully inspire other large landowners to use their underutilized assets too to generate clean energy.

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Washington

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Published

23 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury has announced that she and her husband Matt are expecting a baby in July.

The couple made the announcement in a video on the Spirit’s social media channels, holding a baby goalkeeper jersey on the pitch at Audi Field.

Kingsbury becomes the most recent Spirit star to go on maternity leave, following defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Ashley Hatch.

Sullivan gave birth to daughter Millie in July, while Hatch welcomed her son Leo in January.

Krueger announced she was pregnant with her second child in October.

Kingsbury has served as the Spirit’s starting goalkeeper since 2018, and has been named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year twice (2019 and 2021).

The 34-year-old has two caps with the U.S. women’s national team, and was named to the 2023 World Cup roster.

The club captain will leave a major void for the Spirit, who have finished as NWSL runner-up in back-to-back seasons.

Sandy MacIver and Kaylie Collins are expected to compete for the starting role while Kingsbury is on maternity leave.

The Spirit kick off their 2026 campaign on March 13 against the Portland Thorns.

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Washington

Washington state board awards Yakima $985,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Washington state board awards Yakima 5,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design

YAKIMA, Wash. — Yakima could soon take a major step toward redesigning Sixth Avenue after the Washington State Public Works Board awarded the city a $985,600 loan.

The loan was approved for the design engineering phase of the Sixth Avenue project. The funding can also be used along Sixth Avenue for utility replacement and updated ADA use.

The Yakima City Council must decide whether to accept the award. If the council accepts it, the city’s engineering work will move forward with the design of Sixth Avenue.

The cost of installing trolley lines is excluded from the plan. The historic trolleys would need to raise the funds required to add trolley lines.

The award is scheduled to be discussed during next week’s City Council meeting.

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Washington

Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

Published

2 days ago

February 25, 2026

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Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

Microsoft will ramp up its investment in the University of Washington.

Brad Smith, the company’s president, made the announcement at a press conference with University of Washington President Robert Jones on Tuesday.

That means hiring more UW graduates as interns at Microsoft, he said.

And he said all students, faculty, and researchers should have access to free, or at least deeply-discounted, AI.

“ Some of it is compute that Microsoft is donating, and some of it is pursuant to an agreement where, believe me, we give the University of Washington probably the best pricing that anybody’s gonna find anywhere,” Smith said. He assured the small group of reporters present that it would be “many millions of dollars of additional computational resources.”

The announcement today didn’t include any specific numbers.

But Smith said Microsoft has already invested $165 million in the UW over several decades.

He pointed to Jones’ vision to spur “radical collaborations with businesses and communities to advance positive change,” and eliminate “any artificial barriers between the university and the communities it serves.”

Microsoft’s goal is for AI to help UW researchers solve some of the world’s biggest problems without introducing new ones.

At Tuesday’s announcement, several research students were present to demonstrate how AI supports their work.

Amelia Keyser-Gibson is an environmental scientist at the UW. She’s using AI to analyze photographs of vines, to find which adapt best to climate change.

It’s a paradox: AI produces carbon emissions. At the same time, it’s also a new tool to help reduce them.

So how do those things square for Keyser-Gibson?

“ That’s a great question, and honestly, I don’t know the answer to that,” she said. “I’m highly aware that there’s a lot of environmental impact of using AI, but what I can say is that this has allowed us to make research innovations that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”

“If we had had to manually annotate every single image that would’ve been an undergrad doing that for hours,” Keyser-Gibson continued. “And we didn’t have the budget. We didn’t have the manpower to do that.”

“AI exists. If we don’t use it as researchers, we’re gonna fall behind.”

Microsoft reports on its own carbon emissions. But like most AI companies, it doesn’t reveal everything.

That’s one reason another UW student named Zhihan Zhang is using AI to estimate how much energy AI is using.

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