Buildings

San Francisco, United States of America

Largest city-owned solar power system in the United States

What is it?

The largest city-owned solar power system in the USA rests atop the Moscone Center, San Francisco’s premier conference facility. It is a 675kW/hour system with 5,400 panels and covers 60,000 square feet, generating 826,000 kWh per year. This is equivalent to power 184 homes in San Francisco for an entire year, removing 7,000 cars from the road, or not driving 88 million miles. Over the lifetime of the project, it will reduce 35,000 tons of CO2.

How does it work?

In 2001, voters approved plans from the city to implement renewable energy resources on city-owned buildings. In 2004, the solar power system on the Moscone Center Energy project was implemented and consists of two parts, on focusing on solar power generation and the other on energy efficiency.

The solar panels offer the twin benefit of energy generation and thermal insulation, prolonging the roof’s lifespan and reducing energy consumption in cold periods. The energy efficiency work has focused on upgrades to lighting and building controls, including replacement of incandescent bulbs with more energy efficient products. This will reduce demand from lighting by 4 million kWh per year, a 21% saving.

Application

• This is a city commission, thus financing comes from municipal government.
• Project requires government to create incentives to enable to become cost effective.
• City partners with private large-scale solar power systems provider such as PowerLight.