South Santa Clara County Fire District Celebrates Solar and Battery Storage Installation at Masten Fire Station
Community commemorates the energy resilience project with ribbon-cutting event
Gilroy, Calif. – On July 10, the South Santa Clara County community gathered at the Masten Fire Station to celebrate the recently-installed energy resilience project. The project consists of thirty-four high-efficiency solar panels with smart-grid-capable microinverters and two 8 kilowatt/10 kilowatt-hour batteries installed at a fire station located in Gilroy, CA. The project was made possible by a $100,000 grant through the Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) Community Resilience Grant Program.
Speakers at the event included South Santa Clara County Fire District (SSCCFD) Commission Chair Ramon Lopez, SSCCFD Deputy Chief Chuck Carroll, Director of the Santa Clara County Office of Sustainability and Resiliency Jasneet Sharma, and SVCE CEO Monica Padilla. After the remarks, guests enjoyed a barbeque courtesy of SSCCFD Company 70 volunteers and an ice cream truck powered by SVCE’s all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning.
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“The South Santa Clara County Fire District is dependent on property tax for revenue which doesn’t increase enough annually,” said Deputy Chief Carroll, “the savings of a solar system will allow us to replace broken and outdated firefighting equipment, which is a direct benefit to not only the community, but also the Cities of Gilroy and Morgan Hill, which we assist both on emergency incidents." |
The SVCE Community Resilience Grant Program was established in 2020 as part of a $10M COVID relief package to offer economic and resilience investments in the community. The Santa Clara County Office of Sustainability and Resiliency secured the funding for SSCCFD and CalFire Santa Clara Unit Masten Fire Station in an effort to reduce local emissions and increase the reliability of the station’s backup power.
“It’s very promising to see emergency response step up and, in this case, take on a leadership role in addressing community resilience and climate change,” said Jasneet Sharma, Director of the Santa Clara County Office of Sustainability and Resilience. “By adopting this technology, the Fire District has taken steps to ensure that critical community services are not disrupted during power outages, their operations are enhanced through utility cost savings and a model project is added that cuts carbon emissions from the atmosphere and demonstrates the value of clean energy to the community at large.”
With the new rooftop solar, the Fire District expects to save thousands of dollars each year on electricity costs. The battery system ensures energy reliability, a critical need of the station to be able to raise the station doors and access the trucks at all hours of the day. These batteries replace two diesel backup generators.
"SVCE is proud to fund this resiliency project," said Monica Padilla, SVCE CEO. "Our mission is to invest in our communities in ways that best serve their decarbonization and resiliency needs, and this solar and storage project is a perfect example of how clean electric technologies can support existing critical infrastructures in our community."
Local south county companies Simmitri and MG Constructors & Engineers conducted the design, engineering, and installation of the project.
Since 2020, SVCE has invested over five million dollars throughout Santa Clara County with the Community Resilience Grant Program. The projects increase community resilience, advance decarbonization, and support the local workforce.
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