Indian Wells Valley Water District initiates comprehensive energy-saving program

The Indian Wells Valley Water District (IWVWD), located in Ridgecrest, has launched an extensive solar and energy efficiency project that is expected to save the district $9.38 million in net savings throughout the life of the program. District officials recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to officially start the project and to celebrate the district’s commitment to the conservation of natural resources and their contribution to California’s more sustainable future. The solar systems, which are anticipated to be online by summer 2017, are expected to reduce carbon emissions equivalent to removing 574 cars from highways annually.

The project’s scope includes the installation of 2.08 Mw of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects at five of the district’s water well sites and the district’s Administrative Office. The water well sites’ solar systems are ground-mounted, fixed tilt solar PV system to allow for optimal energy capture. A solar carport system will be constructed at the Administrative Office; in addition to the energy generation the solar carport will provide shade for cars previously parked in the hot desert sun.

The new solar and energy efficiency program is being completed by the California-based company OpTerra Energy Services (OpTerra), a subsidiary of the global energy services corporation ENGIE. When Initially, IWVWD leaders were interested in how they could make the District more energy efficient, while searching for a way to cap rising rates for its customers and ensuring sustainable infrastructure and resources. Choosing the solar project allowed the district to keep energy and operational costs low and was a key motivating factor when the district chose to work with OpTerra. The project is expected to reduce the district’s electricity spending by approximately 63 percent.

“Our District has been exploring the feasibility of solar energy for quite some time,” says Don Zdeba, General Manager of IWVWD. “We are very pleased that the economics of a solar project in partnership with OpTerra were favorable and that we were able to include a comprehensive energy efficiency component to the project.”

OpTerra will also manage the installation of new LED lighting and the replacement of aging HVAC units at the district’s Administration Office. This will improve temperature control and the quality of lighting which will help minimize rising energy costs in the future.

IWVWD has taken advantage of the Renewable Energy Self-Generation Bill Credit Transfer Program (RES-BCT) to offset the upfront costs of the energy conservation program.  The RES-BCT Program allows local government entities, with eligible renewable generating facilities, to send energy to the grid and receive generation credits for other benefiting accounts within the district. This program will give IWVWD greater control and flexibility over the amount of credit to be allocated annually to each site, which fluctuate from site to site. Other sites throughout the district will utilize net energy metering (NEM), which allows the district to receive full compensation from Southern California Edison for all the electricity generated by the solar projects at any time.