The Sewerage Commission-Oroville Region (SCOR) announced that its public-grid-powered wastewater treatment plant will be converted to 80-percent solar energy, making it the first predominately solar wastewater treatment plant in the US, as well as the largest dual-tilt solar photovoltaic (PV) array in the world and the fifth largest solar energy system in the US. A massive 520kW solar power system will be installed by Sun Power and Geothermal Energy (San Rafael, CA) to supply most of the plant's electrical needs.
The array, designed and installed by Sun Power, is composed of PV panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity. The panels will be mounted in a 3-acre field next to the SCOR wastewater treatment plant on dual-tilt supports. With dual-tilt, a concept developed by Sun Power, photovoltaic panels are manually tilted up in the fall and down in the spring to maximize exposure to sunlight throughout the year for greater power-gathering efficiency. The system will go on line in November 2002 and will produce enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 200 average homes.
