East LA College 'Flips Switch' on Solar Electric System

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 04/28/08

As part of its Earth Day celebrations last week, East Los Angeles College began running a new 1.2 megawatt solar electric generating system at the school's Monterey Park campus.

The solar electric generating system, designed and built by Chevron Energy Solutions, consists of about 6,000 Kyocera KC200 solar panels. It was made possible through a power purchase agreement with MMA Renewable Ventures, a power solutions provider that owns, maintains and operates the system. The college agrees to purchase electricity at agreed-upon rates for the term of the power purchase agreement.

"The event we celebrated today demonstrates the viability of solar energy and the practicality of the industry's latest solar-energy financing tool," said Tom Dyer, VP of marketing and government affairs at Kyocera. "Power purchase agreements like the one [East Los Angeles College] has chosen promise to make solar electricity an indispensable contributor to California's energy mix."

The Los Angeles Community College District educates 188,000 students each year. According a statement by Kyocera, the district currently is undertaking the largest public sector sustainable building effort in the United States.