California Center for Sustainable Energy

Solar America Cities funds two San Diego community proposals

San Diego has been selected to receive funding from the Department of Energy’s Solar America Cities program for two special projects that will serve as models for urban solar energy use. One project will outfit a local community center to be an energy self-sufficient emergency center, and the other will help to increase solar energy use in multifamily affordable housing developments. CCSE is a partner with the city on both projects.

The projects are two of 40 new Solar America Cities projects in 16 cities funded by $10 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. According to the DOE, the funds will allow the cities to scale up their most promising solar projects as examples of community projects that could be replicated across the nation. Final funding amounts for the San Diego projects will be about $1 million, including some matching funds from the California Public Utilities Commission.

One project will equip a city-owned community recreation center with solar photovoltaic (PV) power and energy storage capabilities to create an energy self-sufficient “island” where officials would have the ability to attend to residents and manage emergency services during wildfires. The PV system will generate most of the energy required by the facility on an ongoing, net-metered basis.  At the same time, it will be capable of standalone operation in case of fire or other crisis that might cause a power grid outage. Six potential sites have been identified by the city that meet the space, energy load and fire proximity requirements.

“In addition to significantly improving local fire-fighting management, this project will provide key lessons about how the use of integrated solar photovoltaic and advanced energy storage can be designed and implemented for any community’s disaster plan,” said Andrew McAllister, CCSE director of programs. “The goal is for fire, rescue and health responders to be able to attend to those in need without having to worry about losing electrical power and communications.”

The second project is a program to remove barriers that prevent multifamily affordable housing developments from installing PV systems by generating and providing data to developers that show the expected benefits of solar for both tenants and building owners. CCSE solar energy experts will work with the city to conduct an analysis of four existing multifamily affordable housing sites owned and operated by the San Diego Housing Commission. The analysis will include a detailed look at the potential benefits of a solar power retrofit and the impacts of the new California virtual net metering tariff for multifamily affordable housing that is designed to reduce installation costs. The results of the study will be published and made available to the public along with information about numerous state and federal solar incentive programs. In San Diego, CCSE operates the California Solar Initiative’s Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) Program that provides incentives for qualifying properties.

“We want to get the word out to as many building owners and property managers whose properties would qualify as possible, so that they can consider the cost savings and eco-friendliness of going solar,” said Jeremy Hutman, CCSE MASH program manager.

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