Inland Empire Utilities Agency, a municipal water agency, and solar cell manufacturer SunPower have completed a 3.5MW solar power installation at four Inland Empire Utilities Agency facilities in Chino, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, California. As a result of the installation, the agency expects to save $500,000 per year in electricity costs.
As an alternative to outright purchase of the solar power system, Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) has financed the project through Morgan Stanley under the SunPower Access power purchase agreement (PPA) program.
According to SunPower, the agency is purchasing electricity generated from the system from the financier, which owns and operates the system.
It said that, the system is comprised of a 1-megawatt SunPower(R) T20 Tracker system located behind the agency’s Chino headquarters. Solar panels are mounted on the patented single-axis Trackers at 20-degrees of tilt.
T10 Solar Tiles were also installed at two more locations – a 624-kilowatt array at the IEUA’s Carbon Canyon Treatment Plant in Chino, and a 1-megawatt system atop the Inland Empire Regional Composting Authority (IERCA) located in Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Patrick Shields, executive manager of operations at the IEUA, said: With the completion of the new system, IEUA is now producing nearly half of its electricity from alternative energy sources. SunPower provided high-efficiency technology to ensure we are maximizing the energy produced on site, and completed the installation in five months.
SunPower designs, manufactures and delivers solar electric systems worldwide for residential, commercial and utility-scale power plant customers. SunPower solar cells and solar panels claim to generate up to 50 percent more power than conventional solar technologies.
