SDSU Students Make Splash in Solar

Ceremony marks launching of PV system at Aztec Aquaplex

The Associated Students of San Diego State University extended their commitment to a more sustainable campus by installing a solar photovoltaic ( PV) system to power the Aztec Aquaplex swim center. CCSE rewarded the students with a $286,116 rebate check from the California Solar Initiative during a ceremony held in December 2009.

The 124- kilowatt system will save the university more than $35,000 a year in utility costs, according to Grant Mack, Associated Students (AS) Green Commissioner and chairman of the Green Love Sustainability Advisory Board, the student government-led group responsible for developing the solar project.

Speakers at the ceremonies included State Senator Christine Kehoe, City Council Members Marti Emerald and Kevin Faulconer, SDSU President Stephen Weber and Daniel Sullivan, owner of Sullivan Solar Power. SDSU AS President Tyler Boden and Grant Mack received the rebate check from Andrew McAllister, CCSE director of programs.

“This project is an excellent example of bringing higher education, local business, nonprofits and government agencies around the cause of clean, renewable energy,” McAllister said. “Each and every solar installation helps San Diego to reduce its carbon footprint and adds to the goal of building a self-sustaining solar market in California. San Diego is already a model for the rest of the nation, and this installation reinforces that leadership, emphatically.”

The project was paid for by a student-approved fee referendum in 2008 that secured funds for sustainable upgrades to AS’s recreational facilities. The SDSU Green Love board has several sustainability projects under way on the campus, including lighting efficiency upgrades, recycling and installation of other solar photovoltaic and solar water heating systems.

The Aquaplex’s solar system consists of three separate ground-mounted arrays, each with 280 photovoltaic panels. The arrays are mounted on a hillside next to the center and anchored by environmentally friendly “earth screws” that do not require excavation or concrete foundations. The system was designed and installed by Sullivan Solar Power of San Diego, who also recently installed a 40 kilowatt photovoltaic system at SDSU and UCSD’s Mission Bay Aquatic Center.

According to Daniel Sullivan, owner of Sullivan Solar Power, the Aquaplex system generates enough solar power to reduce 299,940 pounds of CO₂ from the atmosphere and generate roughly 241,887 kilowatt-hours per year.

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