CSULB Adds Solar Panels; Cuts Electricity Bill by 1/3

If anyone has driven past California State University, Long Beach through either Atherton Street or Seventh Street, then you will notice some new infrastructure that hovers over the parking lot. Those new contraptions are solar panels.

On Friday, Sept. 15, CSULB had its ceremonial ribbon cutting, which in this case was the ceremonial flip of the switch, where the school finally displayed its new solar panels that were emplaced over summer.

According to CSULB President Jane Conoley and several other speakers in attendance, the solar installations will supply the campus one-third of the electricity that CSULB demands thanks to the 4.75 megawatt panels.

In addition to the solar panels, 44 new electric vehicle chargers have been installed around campus, which brings the number to 48 total, since previously the university only had four.

According to Michael Gardner, CSULB manager of planning and sustainability, the campus is currently working on other forms of green energy and sustainability around Long Beach State.

“The full master plan includes, drought tolerate landscaping, collecting all the runoff [water] on campus, increased pedestrian and bike ways,” Gardner said. “This is just the first step in this parking lot and that concept was evolved with students and the Campuses of Living Loud project, funded by the chancellor’s office and brought to fruition. It took several years, but it’s now happened and the next stages will come too, I’m confident.”

Both Conoley and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said that CSULB now has the largest solar installation out of all the 23 schools in the CSU system. Garcia also added that Long Beach State’s solar infrastructure is now the largest in the city.

“While we have certainly other solar projects in Long Beach like the parking structure in Long Beach City College, the convention center in downtown and others. There is nothing like this in the city,” Garcia said. “So, I think that at this moment the university is not just leading within the collegiate system, but is showing this city and cities across the country how to do it right and how to really be sustainability responsible.”

In 2014, CSULB released its climate action plan, which according to Conoley was an ambitious goal “of achieving climate neutrality by 2030.”

But thanks to a public/private partnership that CSULB struck with a company called SunPower. the campus was able to install its solar infrastructure.

Thanks to the partnership, the university was able to agree on a deal called The Power Purchase Agreement, where the school did not have to pay the up-front cost to install the system.

In addition to the solar panels, CSULB has also finished a battery energy storage project. The purpose of this project is to store up to six megawatts of power. It will get its power whenever the public grid reaches its peak of power, so the storage facility will take some of the energy and store it up.

Along with the solar panels and the battery energy storage project, CSULB is also constructing a NetZero Energy Classroom Building for the College of Continuing Professional Education.

According to Gardner, this is the first building of its kind in the CSU system.

The building is currently under construction on the east side of campus. Its purpose is to minimize energy use and also to produce all of its energy to be self-sufficient.

Lastly, CSULB is working on a new quarter mile long bike path that is adjacent to the Japanese Gardens. The bike path will connect to the cities bike path on Bellflower Boulevard.

Residents of Long Beach will be able to use the bike path to reach the Japanese Gardens or the Walter Pyramid, while students on campus will have an eco-friendly way to leave campus and explore Long Beach.

The goal for CSULB is to finish all of its environmental friendly projects by 2030. In the meantime, the campus will get to enjoy its new solar powered energy.

grester@beachcomber.news