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MyspaceSanta Barbara officials expect 4,500 solar panels currently being installed on a seven-acre parcel near the County Jail to begin generating power late next month in a project they hope will reduce the county’s annual carbon footprint by up to 850 tons per year.
The project — a one megawatt photovoltaic system springing up on a hillside to the northeast of the detention facility — will help power the county’s Calle Real campus, which contains the Sheriff’s Department and jail, as well as several other departments, like Public Health and County Elections.
The panels are expected to provide about one-third of the power the campus needs, according to energy manager Roy Hapeman, and the complex uses roughly 20 percent of all the electricity consumed by county operations.
The Board of Supervisors approved the project, which is expected to save the county $6.8 million over a 30-year period. It will take the county about 15 years to pay off the little more than $5 million in federal bond money being used to fund for the project.
The contractor is Endelos Energy Inc. from Buellton.
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Comments
power to the people.
GluteousMaximus (anonymous profile)
March 27, 2012 at 7:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Alternative energy decisions based on ROI are one tactic to reduce the cost of government to the taxpayer.
For example, the US Army is now planning $7B over the next ten years to cut it's annual $15B energy bill. In my Navy govt. job, we are now working on projects with a 5 year payback to save $4M a year from our $12M utility bill. all were denied under the Obama stimulus plan.
Right now, the payback period of alternative energy systems is fairly long but the cost is coming down quickly. They make more sense in CA where electricity is about 3 times higher than where I now live.
I just want the government to spend my tax dollars on US made systems through a competitive bid system.
passagerider (anonymous profile)
March 28, 2012 at 2:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have installed systems here is SB that are now as old as 12 years. Most all have seen the system pay for itself already, with little to no equipment failures.
Sugarbear is clueless here.
Riceman (anonymous profile)
April 2, 2012 at 2:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)