Atlantic City bets big on solar. Really big.

How green is the convention center housing your next big business conference? Increasingly, the Garden State is becoming the Solar State, and the folks in Atlantic City are betting that will be a selling point to their advantage for selling space in their relatively young convention center.

The Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority signed a 20-year deal in June 2008 to purchase solar power from Pepco Energy Services. Under the agreement, a 2.37-megawatt rooftop solar power array (the biggest in the country) has been built to cover about 266,000 square feet on top of the Atlantic City Convention Center. American Capital Energy designed, engineered and installed the technology, and it will be responsible for its maintenance.

Here's a schematic and aerial view. Isn't she lovely?

Here's what you're seeing:

• 13,486 monocrystalline solar panels
• Four 500 kilowatt AC inverters and a solar array mounting system with 1,470 standoff supports
• A GAF white thermoplastic polyolefin Energy Star-rated roof covering, totally about 500,000 square feet.

The array was completed in December 2008 and has been operational since January 2009, when it generated about 137,776 kilowatt hours, or about 14.98 percent of the convention center's electrical usage. Ultimately, the plan is for the solar technology to handle about 26 percent of the facility's power needs. The estimated savings in electricity costs over the 20-year term of the contract are $4.4 million.

OK, Vegas, what's your ante?