UPDATE, JULY 21, 8:47 A.M.: Though the ribbon-cutting unveiling the largest municipal solar energy efficiency
project in Orange County is this morning, the city of Brea is already reaping savings that have exceeded expectations.
For the month of June, there was a 65%
reduction in electricity costs at the Brea Community Center and a 35% drop at the Brea Civic & Cultural Center, according to the city.
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Besides the civic and community centers, solar panels have been installed at the Reservoir
City Pump Yard, where they are expected to mitigate future pumping
costs. Project partner Chevron has also implemented a citywide street lighting upgrade, interior
and exterior lighting retrofits, and improvements to heating, ventilating, air
conditioning and energy management controls, according to project details released this morning.
“The city of Brea-one of the smallest cities
in the county-is now the largest producer of solar energy in Orange
County,” Jim Davis, president of Chevron Energy Solutions, says in the release.
For more specifics, visit the city's website at www.cityofbrea.net.
ORIGINAL POST, JULY 21, 7:44 A.M.: The city of Brea and Chevron Energy Solutions team up today to announce
the completion of the largest municipal solar energy efficiency
project in Orange County.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at Brea's Civic and Cultural
Center.
Officials claim the 1.8 MW solar and energy efficiency project will: save
the city $13 million over the life of the project; achieve
a 40 percent reduction in electrical utility costs; eliminate
86,000 metric tons of carbon emissions (the equivalent to 16,000 cars on the road); create 25 direct jobs and 125 indirect jobs; and boost the local economy by $3 million.
Among the elected officials, city administrators
and representatives from Chevron Energy Solutions slapping on the sunscreen and high-fiving one another this morning are: U.S. Rep. Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar); state Sen. Bob Huff (R-Walnut); Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell; Brea Mayor Roy Moore; Brea City Manager Tim O'Donnel; Brea Public Works Director Charlie View; and Dave Stone, senior vice president at Chevron Energy
Solutions.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.