SANDY — The newest team color for Utah’s Major League Soccer franchise is green.

The owner of Real Salt Lake Thursday unveiled the state’s largest privately-owned solar array at Rio Tinto Stadium.

The 2,020-kilowatt solar panel system, installed on the existing stadium structure as well as new covered parking areas, is expected to offset 73 percent of the organization’s total annual stadium power needs — the largest offset among North American professional sports and entertainment venues.

“We are looking for all the ways that we can to be truly 'green' for the right reasons,” said RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen.

He estimates that the new system will save the franchise $300,000 to $350,000 annually, and potentially as much as $4 million over the next 10 years. Those savings will go directly back into the operating budget for the team to pay employee and player salaries, he added.

Installed by Midvale-based Auric Solar, construction on the project began in April and took six months to complete.

The environmental impact of the new solar array carries the carbon-dioxide reduction equivalent of removing 450 cars from the road or planting 47,278 trees annually, while providing enough power to light and heat 284 homes for a calendar year, according to Auric co-founder Trent Vansice.

The vast majority of the solar panels were installed on new solar-covered parking structures to the south, southwest and north of the venue.

Rio Tinto Stadium now boasts the fourth largest solar array of any professional sports stadium in the country, behind Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana; Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Pocono Raceway in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. Sandy's Rio Tinto Stadium is just ahead of FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, which now has the fifth largest solar array at a sports stadium.

“This project has positioned Real Salt Lake at the forefront of energy production and conservation in all of professional sports,” said Jess Phillips, principal of Auric Solar.

Hansen said that the new solar array will not only provide an example for other sports franchises to follow, it will also help forward his longtime personal mantra of promoting environmental stewardship.

“This is a vision that I have that we can leave the world a better place,” Hansen said.

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