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Santa Rosa, CA
October 8, 2009: Santa Rosa receives Recovery Act funding for Solar America Cities Special Project.
With 256 days of sunshine per year, Santa Rosa has the potential to generate a significant amount of solar energy. Located north of the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Rosa is the largest city in Sonoma County. A leader in environmental conservation and clean technologies, the city was placed at #5 in the nation’s top ten green cities in National Geographic’s Green Guide 2006. In 2005, representatives from Santa Rosa and the eight other cities in Sonoma County adopted a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 25% below 1990 levels by 2015. This is the most aggressive emissions reduction target set by any San Francisco Bay Area community to date. Solar energy technologies will be used as a crucial tool to achieve this target.
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The 20kW PV system at the City of Santa Rosa's Bennett Valley Golf Course is roof-mounted on a LEED certified building.
The 29kW PV array at the City of Santa Rosa’s vehicle fueling station provides enough energy to meet the facility’s daily lighting load.
Credit:Raymond Baltar
Ground-mounted PV and solar hot water array at a residence in Sonoma.
Credit:Raymond Baltar
This 124kW PV system was installed at Jacuzzi Vineyards in Sonoma, CA. The system generates enough clean electricity each day to power 82 average homes.
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Activities
The City of Santa Rosa, in partnership with eight neighboring cities, Sonoma County, and interested stakeholders, formed an organization called Solar Sonoma County to develop and launch a countywide Solar Implementation Plan. This Plan will provide guidance to significantly and sustainably reduce the financial, regulatory, and educational market barriers to the installation of solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems in Sonoma County. Santa Rosa and its partners in Solar Sonoma County aim to increase the amount of solar energy generating capacity in the County by 25 megawatts over the next three years. It is estimated that this target will reduce the County’s CO2 emissions by 8,500 tons annually.
- Create a countywide Solar Implementation Plan with the following elements:
- Financial incentives to address market barriers such as tax assessment district financing and/or partnering with Global Legacy’s Green Energy Loan (GEL) Program for homeowners in Sonoma County
- Recommendation of a standardization of the planning and building permitting processes, adoption of ordinances for solar, and the use of energy conservation elements in General Plans for cities and the County
- Provide Education and Outreach
- Perform outreach via a Web site, a public relations campaign, a countywide Solar Fair, and the promotion of solar installations on municipal buildings
- Develop educational workshops and web pages that are geared toward solar installers, building inspectors, and consumers
- Address both pre-installation (promoting energy conservation, understanding the process, and creating trust in an installer) and post-installation (maintenance) education for consumers.
Partners
- The City of Santa Rosa (Project Lead)
- The Cities of Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Sonoma, and Windsor
- The County of Sonoma
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Clean Energy AdvocateThe City will establish a Clean Energy Advocate pilot project within Santa Rosa and Sonoma counties, which will provide an independent non-commercial advocate to assist property owners in navigating the solar energy purchase and installation process.
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