The YMCA of San Diego County wanted to offset its electricity costs and increase its commitment to sustainability—while reinvesting the savings to better serve its community members.
Working with the team at Home Energy Systems, a SunPower Elite Dealer, the Y chose to install the SunPower® HelixTM solar solution across the roofs and parking lots of six campuses, for a total system size of nearly 2.5 MW.
The six solar installations are expected to provide savings of approximately $80,000 annually, which will be reinvested into programs and services for area youth and families.
Luis D’Carpio
Vice President of Facilities & Sustainability YMCA of San Diego County
The YMCA of San Diego County has a mission to improve the health and well- being of everyone it serves. As the second largest YMCA organization in the nation, the nonprofit provides a variety of programs and services focused on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, serving 400,000 people throughout the greater San Diego area.
In 2017, the organization’s leadership decided to make a strategic commitment to solar energy as part of its broader goal of strengthening the community. The Y installed solar rooftop and carport systems on six of its facilities throughout the county.
With nearly 4,000 high-performance SunPower® solar panels on its rooftops and parking lots, the solar project is expected to save the Y about $80,000 per year, and produce enough energy to offset 80-90 percent of the Y’s electricity use. Financed through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), the nonprofit did not have to invest any money upfront, but locked in low guaranteed electricity rates for the next 20 years. PPAs are ideal for nonprofits and other organizations who prefer that their resources directly serve their constituents and not be tied up in long-term capital projects.
In the first year of operation alone, the combined systems will generate more than 4 MWh of electricity—the equivalent of powering 378 homes with electricity for one year.1
For the 5,000 people employed at the YMCA of San Diego County, supporting solar is a point of pride. And for the families who park under the solar canopies, the extra shade is a welcome reprieve from the Southern California sun.
We are a San Diego-based, family-owned solar company. We have been an energy innovator since 2001 and can handle projects from small, rooftop solar panel additions to large-scale commercial microgrid systems.
Our website is a great resource for your solar research. We’d also love to speak with you to answer any specific questions you have about your project. Click here to be contacted by an HES Solar representative, or simply dial us at 619-692-2015. We don’t use call centers so you’ll speak with a full-time HES Solar employee in California.