November 13, 2002—The City of San Diego recently converted its Environmental Services Operations Station administration building to operate on solar power. This is the city’s first use of photovoltaic panels to generate enough energy to operate a municipal building.
The photovoltaic system is designed as two carports over the Operations Station’s administration building parking lot. It consists of 468 panels, each generating approximately 140 watts. The entire structure will produce approximately 91,950 kilowatt-hours per year to power the administration building, which currently uses 87,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. The city will save $16,551 annually in energy expenses that would have been used to cover energy costs of this building. Because this array will produce approximately the same amount of energy the building will utilize in one year, it is referred to a “net zero” facility.
To help fund the $681,415 installation, the city received $263,925 from the California Energy Commission.
