Butte County
The Challenge
Butte County established an energy efficiency program that included solar energy. To meet its goals, the County needed a solar photovoltaic (PV) system that could provide enough power to run the Butte County Administration facilities during peak demand hours.
SPG Solar, Inc. performed a feasibility study that included an analysis of the facilities’ average power usage, energy needs, and conducted site inspections to see which locations would be best for solar.
The Solution
SPG Solar designed a high-performance 1.18 megawatt (MWp) utility grid-tied solar PV system to provide power to the County – one of the nation’s most powerful and successful applications of solar energy. Under California’s Net Energy Metering (NEM) regulations, this system provides power to the County’s facilities during the day while earning credits for surplus energy sent back to the grid. These credits then pay for any energy drawn from the utility during non-production periods.
The system is comprised of a 160 kWp roof mount on the East Jail/Emergency Call facility, a 453 kWp ground mount on the West Jail facility, and a combined 563 kWp ground mount and solar carport for the rest of the County’s Administration buildings. In total, 6,360 Sharp® 185-watt solar panels were installed.
Butte County had no upfront net costs for the system. Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) funded by ratepayers dollars paid for half the cost ($4.2 million) of this renewable energy plant, a record incentive amount in the program’s history. The other half of the cost was financed with a $3.2 million loan from the California Energy Commission (CEC) and a $1.0 million loan from Butte County’s investment pool. The semi-annual payments on both loans are equal to the avoided electric costs realized by the solar energy plant, resulting in no net capital cost to the County.
The Benefits
- The system provides all the energy required by the Butte County Administration facilities.
- The system’s electricity production is monitored in real-time by SunSpot®, a proprietary monitoring software and hardware system. An interactive kiosk available to employees and visitors displays real-time solar production data, as well as photos and information about the system.
- The Butte County Solar Center is the first County Administration in the U.S. to be powered primarily by the sun, and has become a model for similar utility projects around the world.
The Green Line
The 1.18 MWp solar system at Butte County prevents 1,200 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere annually by fossil fuel power plants. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it takes 100 acres of trees to filter this much CO2 from the atmosphere each year.
