Chula Vista’s Gateway 1 is turning solar.
The 240,000-square-foot mixed use office and retail space is in the process of being covered with about 1,055 solar panels on the roof and parking structure.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of the month, said Jim Pieri with Mountainwest Real Estate who is behind the project.
After much research Pieri said Baker Electric and MountainWest Real Estate discovered that the amount of utility usage in the commercial building was high. He signed on for a program that the state of California offers called PACE, which is a financing mechnism to allow commercial buildings to install solar systems on their property with the approval of the city and state.
Pieri said Gateway 1 uses about 482,800 kilowatts of energy annually. And about 59 percent or 286,600 killowatts of that energy could be saved through a solar system.
“So it was very significant when you look at the cost of utilities,” Pieri said as to why the solar panels are being installed. “That’s the biggest concern that commercial tenants are having and also that we’re having … the utility rates keep escalating rapidly.”
Pieri said the utility bill for Gateway 1 – which includes San Diego County Credit Union, San Diego County Public Defender’s Office and MountainWest Real Estate cost about $25,000 a month. He said the bills kept increasing and he had to do something about it.
“We literally decided we had to do something when we saw the utility bill start to climb,” he said.
Pieri said a benefit of a solar system is that the building will have a fixed utlity cost over the life of the system.
Pieri said once the project is complete, it will be the largest solar system installation in South County and could open up more systems in the South Bay.
“We are anxious to see the result of it and see how the region responds to it because I think it is just the beginning of some more solar smartness I call it,” he said.
A company called Ygrene finances the installation and the state of California charges them on the property tax bill at the end of year.
Pieri said the benefit of a solar system is that they will have a fixed utility cost over the life of the system.
