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East Mesa Detention Facility photovoltaic system is largest on county property
November 28, 2011 (Otay Mesa)--Today, County Supervisor Greg Cox and Sheriff's Commander Richard Miller switched on a new one-megawatt photovoltaic system at the East Mesa Detention Center. The system is the largest solar energy source on County-owned property and is expected to save taxpayers $1.3 million in power cost over 20 years.
Contractor SunEdison paid for and oversaw construction. SunEdison will own and maintain the system; the County will purchase the energy it generates at below-market rates for use at the jail. Jails are 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operations with large energy requirements.
“This used to be a bare parking lot; now it’s generating energy whenever the sun’s out,” Supervisor Cox said. “It’s a smart and painless way for the County to save taxpayer money while tapping into a sustainable, clean power source.”
The photovoltaic system is mounted on steel canopies that spread across the parking lot and shade visitors’ cars. The solar panels will produce an estimated 1.6 million kilowatt hours of power in the first year, or about 12 percent of the detention complex’s total power needs. The Otay Mesa detention complex includes the George Bailey Detention Center and the East Mesa Juvenile Detention Center.
The clean energy the system represents about 843 tons of greenhouse gases that would otherwise enter the atmosphere each year. That’s equivalent to not driving more than 1.7 million miles each year or planting more than 19,600 trees.
The East Mesa Detention Center’s solar power system is now the largest photovoltaic system on County property, and it’s the second major solar energy system completed this year. In February, officials turned on a 359-kilowatt solar system at the County Operations Center in Kearny Mesa.
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