I just received some news about as sunny as this week's weather.
Burbank Water and Power (BWP) was recently honored as one of the nation’s Top 10 electric utilities in 2010 by the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), a non-profit solar energy organization.
Julia Hamm, president and CEO of SEPA, said the city's power company ranked 10th for Watts-per-Customer among all municipal utilities in the United States. That means we've got nine places to beat for this year's survey. You hear that, Palo Alto? We're comin' for ya!
According to the report, "Municipal utilities as a whole had a very strong year for solar. The annual capacity from all participating municipal utilities was 87.5 MW—an increase of more than 165% over the 2009 total."
For its part, Burbank operates a Solar Support Program, which helps residents take advantage of solar technology through rebates designed to offset a portion of the price of installing a solar-panel system. According to SEPA, Burbank’s three largest solar installations include Warner Brothers Studio’s 510 kilowatt (kW) solar system, which is the largest solar array in the entertainment industry; IKEA’s 250 kW solar installation; and Costco’s 505 kW solar energy system, which covers about 20 percent of the store’s total electricity requirements.
You can read the full report here.
Bryan Mahoney is a recent transplant to Burbank. When he’s not getting sunburned, he can be reached at 818NewGuy@gmail.com and on Twitter @818NewGuy.
