The City of San Luis Obispo is nearing completion of a new solar parking lot project at the Sinsheimer Swim Center, a facility that serves swimmers, athletes, and visitors in the Sinsheimer Johnson neighborhood.
Construction began during the swim centers annual maintenance closure in August, when city officials determined fewer people would be affected by the temporary loss of parking spaces.
Community reporter Jessica Roe looked into the planned work over the summer, and followed in October to see how work is progressing.
City Parking Engineer Noah Maidrand said only a few final tasks remain before the project is complete.
So we’re we’re very close to being done. We’ve got a couple minor things. We’ve got to clean the panels, test them, and then do the final striping for the new accessible spots that we’re putting in under the panels, he said.
Maidrand credited the citys solar contractors with keeping the project on schedule.
They come in, they do their role, they get out. So this is actually the fourth site that we’ve done on city property in this last year. And it’s been this way at every, every site, he said.
The Sinsheimer project is one of several recent solar installations on city property. Another solar project was completed at the new downtown parking structure on Nipomo Street.
According to the city, the Sinsheimer site was selected through what it calls a green exchange. The swim center is one of the citys highest energy-consuming facilities.
An average home uses about five kilowatts. The SLO Swim Center reportedly uses more than 250 kilowatts.
City officials say the goal is to generate that energy through solar power rather than purchasing it from the electrical grid, balancing what the solar panels produce with what the facility consumes.
We went through the city’s energy consumption across all our facilities and found sort of the highest consuming facilities that would be suitable for solar. And this obviously rose to the top of the list. It uses a lot of energy. It would benefit the community, and there’s a lot of space for it, Maidrand said.
As the city completes its fourth solar project, officials are already considering future energy-efficiency improvements.
The Office of Sustainability is always looking for ways to optimize city buildings and move closer towards green energy. So they’re looking at a lot of different building retrofit projects right now, Maidrand said.
The city is currently in its financial planning period. Officials say they often identify needs throughout the community through feedback submitted using the Ask SLO app.
If you have a story idea you would like to send to KSBY Reporter Jessica Roe, you can reach her directly via email at jessica.roe@ksby.com.