CAMARILLO, CA, Oct. 11, 2006 -- Cucamonga Valley Water District (CVWD) joins with SolarWorld California to dedicate a new ground-mounted solar energy system and Environmental Learning Center on Oct. 11. Designed to augment the energy needs of the district particularly during peak summer demand periods, the system will also serve as an on-site example of clean energy production for the students who visit the Environmental Learning Center. It is innovatively designed to teach children from grades K-12 about their role to preserve the environment.
The solar system was designed in response to the District's visionary approach to satisfy their long-term energy needs, provide a hedge against rising electricity rates and proactively preserve and protect the environment. "As the leading full-service solar company in California, we were able to provide CVWD with the modules as well as system design and installation," says Raju Yenamandra, SolarWorld Sales Manager America. "As one of the three largest solar companies in the world, CVWD has the long-term reassurance that we will be there to answer their questions today or 25 years from today".
Consisting of 1,416 modules, the 274 kilowatt system generates 380,000 kilowatt hours annually or the energy to power 4,453 homes for one day. The system also eliminates the production of 240 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year or the pollution an average car emits over 10,132 days. SolarWorld's proprietary panelization process consisting of a factory-assembled design allows for more efficient installation and virtually eliminates packaging.
"The District has been encouraged by the opportunity to partner in the Self Generation Incentive Program by constructing an environmentally sensitive renewable energy project," says John Vega, CVWD Director of Operations. "Employing good Resource Management practices will ultimately benefit the District by optimising and reducing the required power load to our 3CII Pumping Facility by 27 per cent." As part of the Self-Gen Program, Southern California Edison defrayed a significant portion of the installation cost with a $720,000 rebate check paid to CVWD.
The Cucamonga Valley Water District (www.cvwdwater.com) service area includes the city of Rancho Cucamonga, portions of the cities of Upland, Ontario and Fontana, and some unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County. CVWD serves a population of approximately 170,000 customers within a 47 square mile area, which includes approximately 45,000 water connections and 35,000 sewer connections.
The SolarWorld Group (www.solarworld-usa.com) is among the three largest solar power companies in the world. It's U.S. operation, SolarWorld Industries America, is based in Camarillo, CA. The group is dedicated exclusively to the core business of solar energy combining all stages of the solar value chain from the raw material silicon to turn-key solar power plants. The company operates production facilities in Germany, Sweden and the USA. In the United States SolarWorld AG is the leading producer and provider of solar power technology. In addition sales offices operate in South Africa and Asia completing the international alignment of the group. The responsibility of these offices includes the sale of rural solar power solutions that can make an important contribution to the sustainable economic development of the southern hemisphere.
In Freiberg in Saxony, Germany, the group operates one of the world's most advanced integrated solar production facilities where the SolarWorld Group turns solar grade silicon into high quality solar wafers, solar cells and solar modules. SolarWorld AG offers a broad and diverse range of products from modules for grid-coupled and grid-independent power generation all the way to a whole class of complete solar power systems for decentralized and centralized electricity generation. After the IPO at the end of 1999 the company developed within a few years from a solar trading house to a fully integrated solar technology group increasing its workforce to more than 1,300 people by the beginning of July 2006. SolarWorld AG is listed at the stock exchange in the technology index TecDAX and in the Dow Jones STOXX 600 as well as in the international MSCI index among others.
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Also see:
-- "Recycled resource: The 'new' water supply"
-- "Water district prepared for emergency situations"
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