The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) and SunPower join hands to build a 16 MW ground-mounted solar power plant with a production capacity that meet 14 percent of UC Davis’ electricity needs.
The utility is designed to generate 33 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. The total campus electricity use was 228 million kilowatt-hours in 2013-14.
The project is expected to reduce the campus’ carbon footprint by 9 percent.
The plant, anticipating completion in2015 will meet more than one-third of total electricity demand of University campus. On completion, it will be the largest solar power installation in the University of California and the largest solar power plant to offset the electricity demand of a U.S college campus.
UC Davis is a national and international leader in sustainability and this new project places the campus in a self- alliance group, said, Linda P.B. Katehi, chancellor, UC Davis.
SunPower will design and construct the project on a 70-acre site, which will also own and operate it. Once the operation begins, University can have an exact budget for electricity costs. In addition, the plant is expected to provide a long-term barrier against future rate increases.
The first project undertaken by SunPower on the campus was the design and construction of four MW of power technology for the UC Davis West Village neighborhood, the nation’s largest net-zero community.
The university’s vision to integrate cost-effective, sustainable energy solutions is unparalleled, and is further advanced by this milestone commitment to build the nation’s largest solar plant to offset electricity demand of a university campus, said, Howard Wenger, president, SunPower.
SunPower will utilize its Oasis Power Plant technology, which uses single-axis tracking technology to position high efficiency solar panels to track the sun throughout the day, increasing energy capture by up to 25 percent over fixed-tilt solar technology.
UC Davis’s greenhouse gas emissions are lower today than they were five years ago despite campus growth, said, Sid England, assistant vice chancellor, environmental stewardship and sustainability, UC Davis.
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