While the 25 year projected savings aren’t the highest of six proposals that were submitted to the council, it was one of the most visible.
City Hall is the city’s largest consumer of electricity, and while the panels will save more than $600,000 over the next two and a half decades, that only accounts for 7% of the building’s consumption.
The other five projects identified in the studies have been folded into the city’s general capital improvement plan, while the City Hall project has been sent out for bids.
From the Contra Costa Times:
Skies may be gray this week, but Walnut Creek leaders hope to begin harnessing energy from the sun to help power city hall, and possibly other city buildings, in the near future.
The City Council voted Tuesday to accept a solar feasibility study that investigated nine city-owned sites in Walnut Creek for solar power. Six were determined viable for solar installation, including Tice Valley Gym, North Locust parking garage and the parking lots at Boundary Oak Golf Course and Heather Farm Community Center.
The $317,000 study was paid for through a $677,700 federal Energy Efficiently and Conservation Block Grant — part of the 2009 economic stimulus.
Read the full article here.