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Within the next few
months, the roof of San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center
will be covered with 65,000 sq ft of photovoltaic panels. The
installation will be the first project implemented as a result
of Proposition B, a ballot initiative approved by city voters
in November 2001. The measure authorized $100 million in bonds
to finance use of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects
in city and county-owned buildings.
The $7.4-million Moscone project,
which includes installation of a 675-kw photovoltaic array
and $3.2 million in other efficiency measures, is expected
to slash the convention center's annual utility bill by $639,000,
according to Vote Solar Initiative, a locally based organization
that promotes a national transition to alternative energy
sources.
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Solar panels will cover convention center roof. |
The Moscone panels will generate
at least 825,000 kwh each year, according to Daniel Shugar,
president of PowerLight Corp., Berkeley, the system's designer
and installer. The power will be used immediately within the
building. Since optimum generation occurs during daytime hours
in the summer, coinciding with peak demand, a storage system
is unnecessary, he says.
The San Francisco Public Utilities
Commission is monitoring solar energy potential in the city,
and is collecting data at several locations to determine optimum
sites for future installations. Despite the city's tendency
to fog, data shows that several neighborhoods receive 90 to
95% of the sunshine in California's Central Valley, says Fred
Schwartz, commission manager of advanced and renewable technologies.
"Sacramento just lost bragging rights," he says.
On the basis of the collected
data, SFPUC is planning a second photovoltaic installation-a
300-kw array for the roof of a city-owned and operated wastewater
treatment plant in Hunter's Point.
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