City Secures New Engery Source—93 Million Miles Away

Robert Keltey's pitch to the Watsonville City Council got some chuckles, but it also caught local leaders' attention.

Ketley, a senior utilities engineer for the city, told city councilors that Watsonville has a great energy source just 93 million miles away—the sun—and they have the ability to harness that power source with action at Tuesday's council meeting.

His recommendation won approval from the council to put solar panels on City Hall, the Municipal Service Center, Materials Recovery Facility and Water Resources Center.

“We’re talking a serious amount of power we’ll be generating here,” Keltey said.

It's a long-term investment for the city.

Watsonville won an IRS bond with a near-zero percent interest rate that will provide almost $3 million to install the panels. The bond will be paid off in 15 years, and “that is when we party,” Keltey said.

From then on, the project will generate money. The city will make about $4 million over the next 25 years, on top of the money normally spent on energy that will be saved.

“That for me is just wonderful news," Keltey said.

Part of revenue production comes from the state. California government will pay the city for the energy as well, as long as the project is cleared at the state level by August. Those funds should amount to more than $500,000 in the next fire years, Keltey explained.

The project has already gone out to bid and has been tentatively awarded to a contractor.

Also, the solar panels will eliminate 672 tons of carbon emissions, about 10 percent of the total annual carbon emissions of the city, Keltey said.

The City Council unanimously approved the solar panel installation.