Phoenix rising

Two years ago local developer Tom DiGiovanni purchased the commercial building on the corner of Fifth and Flume that was once the Gold Country Market and now houses the University of Phoenix. Early this year he installed solar panels on the roof. It’s the largest privately owned solar array in Butte County.

What made you decide to go solar?

I had just purchased an empty building and found a major tenant [University of Phoenix] that preferred to have the PG&E bill built into its rent. The solar option essentially allows me to purchase the next 20-plus years of energy at a fixed cost, which enables me to accurately forecast the cost of energy produced by a 96-kilowatt system.

Explain the rebate you got.

The rebate program pays for half of the cost of purchasing and installing the solar equipment. This enables the investment to be economically feasible.

What took so long for solar to become viable? We’ve talked about it for the past 30 years, it seems.

I’ve not studied photovoltaic (PV) technology in depth. But I have read that in recent years there have been major improvements in both the technology (efficiency of electricity generated per square meter in a solar panel) and in manufacturing efficiency (cost of the solar panel). This lowers costs per kilowatt produced. Greater acceptance of PV solar leads to greater investments in the technology, which in turn leads to even greater efficiencies. Higher energy costs in general will also lead to greater investments in the technology.

Is the system on your building capable of generating 100 percent of the electricity needed?

Not quite. We’ve only been on-line since the beginning of the year, and we’re not quite through the summer, but we expect that the system will produce about 80-90 percent of the electrical energy for the 20,000-square-foot building.

What are the down sides—the areas where improvement is still needed in solar—as far as you can see?

As with anything like this, it’s a bit complex and time consuming and involves multiple players, but we are very pleased with the results.

Anything else you’d like to say?

We plan to look at solar on any commercial buildings we buy or build. Down the line we are also looking at applications for residential construction. I think the technology and the economics are very promising, not to mention the satisfaction of knowing that you’re doing your small part to make good change happen.—T.G.