Supervisor John C. Zaragoza joined the Ventura County General Services Agency and Ventura County Public Works Agency to tour the Juvenile Justice Center Solar Project on March 9. Courtesy photo.
VENTURA COUNTY — Supervisor John C. Zaragoza joined the Ventura County General Services Agency (GSA) and Ventura County Public Works Agency (VCPWA) to tour the Juvenile Justice Center (JJC) Solar Project on March 9.
The project, which began construction in October 2015 and was completed in February 2016, consists of 3,620 ground-mounted solar array panels that cover over three acres of land on the JJC property. The solar panels are expected to reduce the County’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by approximately 532 Metric Tons, which, along with previous County solar projects completed, continues toward its goal of reducing GHG emissions by 15% by 2020.
The JJC property was chosen because the available land, coupled with the significant electrical load, made it a prime candidate to support a one Megawatt solar system. The solar panels are located in the back portion of the property, enclosed by a security fence, so as not to conflict with any future expansion of the facility.
The County applied for the California Solar Initiative incentive and was conditionally approved for $766,445 to be paid for over the first five years of the system’s operation by Southern California Edison. At the completion of the project, the construction cost currently stands at $3.2 million.