The City of San Diego launched today a new 1.1 megawatt solar power installation at the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant. The system, which is only the start of a large photovoltaic expansion, will provide about 20% of the plant's power with expected savings of $40,000 a year.

With sunny skies one reason people love San Diego, the city is using this natural renewable resource to green several facilities over the coming years. Eventually, multiple installations will provide almost 5 megawatts of solar power and, according to The Sietch, "will become the largest municipal system in California, surpassing Google’s planned 1.6 megawatt solar system in Mountain View, California." How's that for ambitious?

Such goals are minor compared to San Diego's big picture for the year 2013. “Installing 5 megawatts of solar panels on City-operated property is a major step toward meeting the City’s target of providing 50 megawatts of renewable fueled power generation by 2013,” said Mayor Jerry Sanders.

The Alvarado installation has 6,128 photovoltaic solar panels which will reduce annual carbon emissions equal to 219 cars driving 12,500 miles. In addition to this new project, San Diego also currently generates 18 megawatts of renewable power from sources such as methane and hydropower.

Source: The Sietch