THE
TEMPEST
THE VOICE OF SOLANO COLLEGE VOL. 30, NO. 1
SEPT. 4 - SEPT. 17, 2013
The solar panels at the Vallejo campus are expected to save $60,000 per year in electricity bills.
Steve Reczkowski/Tempest
New solar panels for Solano Benjamin Gogna Staff Writer bgogna@solanotempest.net
FAIRFIELD – Students may have noticed fenced-off sections around two parking lots on the main campus at Solano Community College during the first few weeks of this semester. The college is installing over 7,000 solar panels that will save over half a million dollars a year in electricity bills, and provide shaded parking for students.
The panels will reduce the district’s electricity usage by over 60 percent, according to college administrators. College administrators say the district’s current annual electricity bill of $1.1 million is expected to drop to $500,000, a savings of $600,000. In addition, solar incentives received by the state would earn the district $220,000 for each of the first five years of the solar systems’ operation. Solar panels are being installed at
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both the Fairfield and Vacaville campuses, and will be completed by the end of October or early November, said Yulian Ligioso, vice president of finance and business at SCC in an e-mail.
campus alone is expected to save $60,000 per year in electricity bills and generate PG&E solar rebates of about $172,000 over the next five years, administrators said.
In February, construction began with the installation of 784 solar panels at the Vallejo Center. Much of the parking lot at the Vallejo Center was fenced off for the spring and summer terms. In June, the panels went on-line.
To fund the installation of the solar panels at the three district sites, SCC was able to secure $12.3 million in unspent American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds earmarked for renewable energy, Ligioso said.
The solar install at the Vallejo
“We have not tracked the number
of students who are temporarily inconvenienced by the construction,” said Jowel Laguerre, president of Solano Community College in an email. “However, the two lots at the Fairfield Campus we have used had very low student parking in them during the year,” Laguerre said. “Once completed the shade will more than make up for the temporary inconvenience.”
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