A joint project from Peninsula Clean Energy, a community-choice aggregation agency, and developer Renewable America, will generate 3 MW of solar power as part of Peninsula Clean Energy’s Green Access Program. The program provides income-qualified customers in San Mateo County and the City of Los Banos with a 20% reduction to their electric bills.
Community solar enables ratepayers to subscribe to a portion of the electricity generated by a local solar project, and they receive a credit on their electric bills. The model benefits those who do not own their own home or can not afford the upfront cost of putting solar on their roof.
Green Access is part of the Disadvantaged Communities-Green Tariff program (DAC-GT) and Community Solar Green Tariff (CS-GT) programs enacted by California AB 327 in 2013, with programs formed by the California Public Utilities Commission. Peninsula Clean Energy reports that the Dos Palos project is one of the first to be commissioned under these front-of-the-meter programs.
The community solar project is already fully subscribed with more than 2,600 customers, according to the partners, and the ratepayers may expect to receive approximately $20 to $30 in monthly electricity bill savings. The customers are expected to save about $2.67 million over 20 years, according to Darren Goode, a Peninsula Clean Energy spokesperson., Darren Goode, a Peninsular Clean Energy spokesperson told pv magazine USA. By saving $20 a month for 2,640 customers over 20 years equates to a forecasted $12.67 million in expected bill savings over the total contract term, Darren Goode, a Peninsular Clean Energy spokesperson told pv magazine USA.
Renewable America developed, secured the financing for and constructed the Dos Palos project. The project includes nearly 8,000 Longi 540 W modules on Nextracker single-axis trackers and uses 30 Chint Power Systems inverters.
Peninsula Clean Energy is a Community Choice Aggregation agency and is the electricity provider for San Mateo County and for the City of Los Banos. Founded in 2016 with a mission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the agency serves a population of 810,000 people by providing more than 3,600 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, which is 50% renewable and 100% clean, reportedly at a lower cost than PG&E.
Renewable America is a California-based provider of distributed energy resources, serving communities with small utility-scale, locally generated solar-plus-storage facilities and community microgrids that work in conjunction with the distribution grid. The company reports it currently has over 320 MW of solar and 680 MWh of energy storage projects under development throughout California.
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