Solar Siting Survey: Peninsula Advanced Energy Community

As part of the Peninsula Advanced Energy Community (PAEC), an initiative designed to streamline policies and showcase projects that facilitate local renewables and other advanced energy solutions, the Clean Coalition conducted a Solar Siting Survey to assess the potential for commercial-scale solar in southern San Mateo County, California. PAEC is a collaboration between the Clean Coalition, the California Energy Commission, Pacific Gas and Electric, and an array of municipalities, emergency response jurisdictions, schools and universities, and corporate entities.

The PAEC Solar Siting Survey evaluated thousands of potential locations — based on site characteristics, existing loads, and grid infrastructure — to identify those in built environments that are best suited for a solar installation of at least 100 kilowatts (kW).

Results

In total, the PAEC Solar Siting Survey identified over 65 megawatts of technical potential for commercial-scale solar installations within the PAEC region. It was found that parking garages and surface lots offer more than 40% of the commercial solar potential in southern San Mateo County. The Clean Coalition also identified numerous schools with attractive solar siting opportunities. While some schools had less than 100 kW of solar potential, when aggregated with other schools in their district, the 100 kW threshold was met. Overall, more than 400 prospective commercial solar sites were located, which have the potential to provide enough clean local energy to satisfy peak usage of over 65,000 homes.

Press release

Solar Siting Survey identifies substantial solar potential on built environments in California’s southern San Mateo County (May 17, 2017)