Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA), a municipal water agency, and SunPower Corp. have completed a 3.5 MW solar power installation at four IEUA facilities in Chino, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. As a result of the installation, the agency expects to save $500,000 in electricity costs.
‘With the completion of this new system, IEUA is now producing nearly half of its electricity from alternative energy sources,’ notes Patrick Shields, executive manager of operations at the IEUA. ‘SunPower provided high-efficiency technology to ensure we are maximizing the energy produced on-site, and completed the installation in just five months.’
IEUA financed the project through Morgan Stanley under the SunPower Access power purchase agreement program. The agency is purchasing electricity generated from the system from the financier, which owns and operates the system.
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The system includes a 1 MW SunPower T20 Tracker system located just behind the agency's Chino headquarters. Solar panels are mounted on the patented single-axis Trackers at a 20-degree of tilt. About five miles away at the agency's Regional Plant 1 in Ontario, a 700 kW array of SunPower Trackers was installed alongside a 137 kW SunPower T10 Solar Tile system on top of a capped reservoir.
The modular T10 Solar Tiles are self-ballasted, tilted at a 10-degree angle to increase energy capture, and designed to flexibly adapt to the size and requirements of select ground sites or virtually any flat rooftop, IEUA notes.
SOURCE: SunPower Corp.
