The Huntington Beach City Council on Monday night approved a power-purchasing agreement with SunEdison under which the city will buy solar energy from the company produced by solar systems that will be installed on canopies in the parking lots of the city’s civic center, central library and city yard.
The agreement, which spans 20 years, could end up saving the city as much as $1.5 million because the solar-generated power is projected to have a lower cost-escalation rate than power coming from Southern California Edison plants, according to a city staff presentation.
The systems will be paid for in part by the sale of between $5.8 million and $6.5 million in recovery zone facility bonds. The federal government allocated the bonds to Huntington Beach under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The company will be responsible for repaying the bonds through revenue received from the sale of solar power to the city.
“There’s no risk to the taxpayers at all,” City Administrator Fred Wilson said.