Palo Alto Utilities - Remote Renewables Program

Summary

The City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) is providing grant funding for Renewable Energy Projects located outside of its territory. The purpose of the Remote Renewables Program is to assist grid-connected renewable energy projects that need a small amount of additional funding to move them from "good ideas" to completed projects. The CPAU sent out a Request for Proposals in December 1999 and received 19 proposals totaling $1.5 million in grant requests. A total of $500,000 is available through the Remote Renewable grant program. The CPAU has selected 17 Remote Renewable projects for possible funding. The projects are all located in California and include: one project for biomass anaerobic digestion and 16 solar photovoltaic projects, two of which include small wind turbines. The proposed grants range from $2,000 up to $80,000. The CPAU is very pleased with the quality of the proposals. Many of the proposals have already gathered significant co-funding and are looking to Palo Alto to provide the little extra to make the project feasible. Many of the proposed energy projects include significant levels of public energy education and demonstration components. The proposed grant recipients include: Stanford Sierra Camp (Fallen Leaf Lake) - 4.3 kW solar photovoltaic system Hidden Villa Education Center (Los Altos) - 5.4 kW solar photovoltaic system Hidden Villa Youth Hostel (Los Altos) - 7.3 kW wind & photovoltaic system NASA-Ames Research Center (Mountain View) - 4.0 kW solar photovoltaic system Children’s Community Center (Berkeley) - 10 kW solar photovoltaic system Berkeley Eco-House (Berkeley) - 1.3 solar photovoltaic system Architectural Office (Albany) - 1.1 kW wind and solar photovoltaic system Berkeley Shorebird Nature Center (Berkeley) - 1.0 kW solar photovoltaic system Office building for solar developer (Nevada City) - 4.8 kW solar photovoltaic system A private residence in San Jose - 2.4 kW solar photovoltaic system A private residence in San Jose - 700 watt kW solar photovoltaic system A 500 KW anaerobic digester treating waste at a food processor in the central valley A project to develop several solar photovoltaic systems at local businesses A project for a solar photovoltaic system at a peninsula area high school A 400 watt solar photovoltaic system located at a central valley nature center A 12 kW solar photovoltaic system located in downtown Santa Cruz A 74 kW solar photovoltaic system located at an East Bay science center Over the coming months, Palo Alto will be working with the grant applicants to process the grants and sign grant agreements. Grant payments from the City of Palo Alto will only be made after the projects are constructed and fully operational.