By PAIGE AUSTIN
The Press-Enterprise
BLYTH, Calif. — Better known for its blues, the state’s prison system is going green with a 13-acre solar-panel field to provide energy to Ironwood State Prison in Blythe.
The largest and most advanced solar-energy project in the California Department of Corrections, the system unveiled Wednesday is expected to save the state $50,000 a year in energy costs and will serve as a model for 10 other prison projects, said Harry Franey, the department’s chief of Energy Management and Sustainability.
 (AP Photo/Armando Franca) |
“We have finally hit on a formula. Up until now we have only been able to build systems on a one-time basis,” Franey said. “Partly because of the economy and the technology, things are coming together. ... We’re not going to stop until we look at every single site.”
Built and funded by SunEdison, the 6,000 solar panels shift to track the sun across the sky, taking full advantage of the desert sun.
SunEdison used tax rebates to fund part of the $6.5 million project, and the company will recoup its expenses over the course of a 20-year contract with the state, Franey said.
The system is expected to generate roughly 2.4 million kilowatt-hours during its first year of production and offset nearly 38.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over 20 years, prison officials said. The effect on the environment would be like taking 3,770 cars off the road for one year.
All of the energy produced will be sold back to the medium-security men’s prison at a discounted rate, Warden Debra Dexter said.
“We’re looking at a 15 percent rate reduction,” she said. “We’re trying to be good neighbors by doing what we can for the environment.”
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