Solar Technologies installs large solar power array for Barry Swenson Builders at Live Oak Business Park    Solar Technologies of Santa Cruz, Calif., working in partnership with Central Coating Company of Madera, Calif., has completed the design and installation of the third largest PV solar array in Santa Cruz County at the Live Oak Business Park, 5400 Soquel Avenue, Santa Cruz. Solar Technologies is, the leading designer and installer of solar arrays in Santa Cruz County, CA. Using advanced PV technology provided by Kyocera Solar, the company completed the installation just months after installing the county’s largest photovoltaic solar array a few blocks away at West Marine Products on 17th Avenue. Barry Swenson, Builders, owner of Live Oak Business Park, hopes the promise of free green-power will attract some of the area’s many eco-conscious businesses as tenants. The array power will be allocated to the entire office building complex and some of the business park’s common area. Most new leases require tenants to pay their own electric bill, but Swenson is experimenting with a new model. Whatever power the new system produces, the dollar-equivalent will be deducted from the electric component of the tenant’s lease obligation. This saves the tenant money and allows them to advertise to their clientele that they doing their part to significantly reduce air pollution. Mr. Swenson thinks Santa Cruz is a great place to make this model happen. With Buydowns from the California Public Utilities Commission, tax credits, special depreciation allowances and energy savings, the Live Oak Business Park’s rooftop solar generator will pay for itself in just 5 years – even in the often-cloudy climate of the Central Coast of California, where Live Oak Business Park is located. The System: The 37.7Kw PV rooftop array is tied to the utility grid. On days when it generates more power than the offices can use, Live Oak Business Park feeds electricity to the grid for credit on its utility bill. This allows other utility customers to benefit from clean and safe sun-powered electricity. At night, when the demand and price for electricity is at its lowest, or when the day isn't sunny enough to fulfill the store's electricity needs, Live Oak’s system automatically begins drawing from the grid. Benefits to the Environment: This system will eliminate an estimated 2,500,000 pounds of the primary greenhouse gas CO2 that would otherwise be released by a conventional power plant. This same system, over 30 years, will also save more than 25 million cubic feet of natural gas that would be consumed by a gas-fired power plant to produce the same amount of energy. This is the environmental equivalent of planting 12 acres of trees. The Live Oak Business Park is producing its own electric power with a clean, non-polluting, renewable energy source, and is not contributing to the buildup of greenhouse gases and other environmental ills caused by so much other new construction activities. Photovoltaic system configuration: The Live Oak Business Park’s system consists of 240 Kyocera KC125G solar PV panels and12 Sunny Boy SWR2500U inverters, configured for 208 volt, 3-phase power. The system also utilizes a new PV system specifically designed for large, flat industrial roofs. It is called ElectroRoof and is installed at Live Oak Business Park in a joint venture between Solar Technologies and Central Coating Company of Madera, CA. ElectroRoof Industrial Photovoltaic System For information on the design and installation of the solar system, contact Roger DeNault of Solar Technologies at (831) 421-0440. Project Instrumentation by SolarQuest.