Catching Rays to Pay off at County Facilities

A view of solar panels on the Registrar of Voters building and the Chesapeake parking structure at the County Operations Center.

A crowning achievement at General Services – the department energized the County’s largest photovoltaic (PV) system to date, a 2.2-megawatt system, at the County Operations Center. That means solar panels will generate enough clean renewable power to provide nearly 25% of the electricity used by the entire COC campus.

On top of that, a 400-kilowatt battery system was installed on the campus’s north side. The battery system will offset SDG&E’s increased rates during periods of high demand. The battery will switch on as needed each day when campus energy use gets too high, eliminating most of those costs.   

Between the solar panels and the battery, the system is expected to cut the COC’s annual electricity bill up to $370,000 each year.

Under a power purchase agreement, Sun Power built the COC system and will operate and maintain it at no cost to the County. In turn, the County will buy all the renewable power generated at a price well below current and anticipated future SDG&E rates.

The project started last July and involved the installation of more than 6,300 PV panels atop the roofs of all four campus office buildings, the Registrar of Voters building and the new carports on the Chesapeake parking structure. 

The County also energized a 175-kilowatt system at the Rancho San Diego Sheriff Station. Renewable power will offset more than 60% of the site’s energy use.

“The County reached a milestone with the completion of these two projects,” said Energy and Sustainability Program Chief Charley Marchesano. “The total amount of onsite generated renewable power increased to 10% of the total County facility demand which is a 2020 goal in our climate action plan.”

And there is more to come. A solar project at the Edgemoor Skilled Nursing Facility should go live later in the summer. And two more at the East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility and the North County Regional Center are scheduled to come online this fall.

Once they are all on board, the County’s renewable onsite power will increase to 18 or 19% of the County’s total energy load. That figure puts the County well within reach of the ultimate goal to generate at least 20% of the total energy load from onsite renewable sources by 2030.