{"id":895,"date":"2012-09-06T18:07:19","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T01:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/?p=895"},"modified":"2022-08-03T10:40:26","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T17:40:26","slug":"thousand-oaks-second-solar-installation-up-and-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/2012\/09\/06\/thousand-oaks-second-solar-installation-up-and-running\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousand Oaks’ second solar installation up and running"},"content":{"rendered":"

The area\u2019s recent hot spell may be sending residents running for shade, but the sunny skies are also fueling the city\u2019s newest solar panel installation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source of this article: The Thousand Oaks Acorn<\/a>, September 6, 2012<\/p>\n

Completed in June atop the Hillcrest Center\u2014home to the Conejo Recreation and Park District, the Hillcrest Center for the Arts and the National Park Service\u2014 the 600-panel system is now fully functional and generating around 1,400 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, according to Liz Perez, facilities manager for the City of Thousand Oaks.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The solar panels) are producing what we predicted, about 60 percent of the site needs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

PLUGGED IN\u2014Formerly used for parking, the roof of the Hillcrest Center is now covered with 600 electricity-producing solar panels that are generating enough power to meet 60 percent of the building\u2019s needs.<\/p><\/div>The Hillcrest Center, which the city leases to CRPD and the park service, joins the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant as the second city-owned facility to operate on solar energy.<\/p>\n

The $1.3-million Hillcrest system, which was green lit by the City Council in February 2011 after years of looking for workable solar sites, is expected to save T.O. at least $60,000 a year in energy costs, Perez said.<\/p>\n

Much of the panels\u2019 costs will be covered by separate entities.<\/p>\n

Around $680,000 of the price tag was paid for with federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Additionally, the California Solar Initiative, a rebate program sponsored by the Public Utilities Commission, will provide the city with more than $400,000 in rebates over the next 60 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the system produces power, we get money back,\u201d Perez said of the initiative.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the city\u2019s general fund will cover only $220,000 of the project\u2019s total cost, she said.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Claudia Billde la Pe\u00f1a, who was a part of the unanimous vote in favor of the solar installation, said the money was well-spent.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike at the Newbury Park Library (where a solar panel project was abandoned), this solar panel system is not really visible, and the benefits from solar energy speak for themselves,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bill-de la Pe\u00f1a said it is possible that the council will approve future solar projects, but \u201conly if it made (fiscal) sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hillcrest solar installation didn\u2019t come without its share of hurdles.<\/p>\n

In February, after terminating its contract with original contractor SHE Engineering and Construction over claims of faulty workmanship and lack of cooperation, the city hired Smith Electronic Service to take over the installation process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did a great job,\u201d Perez said of the Santa Maria-based company, which completed its work in June on schedule.<\/p>\n

In May, SHE attorney Jonathan Dekel denied claims of poor workmanship and said the Reseda-based company was considering taking legal action against the city.<\/p>\n

But on Tuesday, city attorney Tracy Noonan said the city has not been served.<\/p>\n

Despite the threat of a lawsuit against the city, building tenants are pleased to see the solar project completed.<\/p>\n

Kate Kuykendall, public affairs officer with the National Park Service, said the organization is delighted by Thousand Oaks\u2019 efforts to use sustainable energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs tenants, it\u2019s really important to us that we\u2019re practicing what we preach in protecting natural resources,\u201d she said. \u201cThe National Park Service is committed to \u2018greening\u2019 our parks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The area\u2019s recent hot spell may be sending residents running for shade, but the sunny skies are also fueling the city\u2019s newest solar panel installation. Source of this article: The Thousand Oaks Acorn, September 6, 2012 Completed in June atop the Hillcrest Center\u2014home to the Conejo Recreation and Park District, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,18,55,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budget-and-spending","category-conejo-valley","category-energy-use","category-going-green"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3679,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions\/3679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}