Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility Adopts Solar

The next time you use the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District’s Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility in Martinez, check out the new solar panels.

They were installed last month and are expected to generate 70-75% of the facility’s energy requirements. Panels are also being installed at Central San’s Vehicle Maintenance Shop and Collection System Operations Facility in Walnut Creek.

The panels are expected to save more than $350,000 in energy costs over a 20-year period, and reduce Central San’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 200 metric tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) equivalents per year.

The solar panel installations are a result of Central San’s participation in a collaborative effort with 18 other local governments in the San Francisco Bay Area to purchase systems for on-site generation of solar energy at public facilities. By pooling resources, agencies can save taxpayers more than $100 million in energy costs and generate up to 31 megawatts of renewable power.

Central San is the only wastewater agency installing panels as part of this joint procurement process.

Central San already produces more than 80% of the energy required for its treatment plant by using a combined heat and power cogeneration system. This system generates both steam to run treatment plant processes, and electricity at a significantly lower cost than power from PG&E.

--Image provided by Central San