Skyline Innovations, an LACI portfolio company now in their 3rd year of operations in California, unveiled a new solar water heating system for low-income housing this week at Coral Wood Court Apartments. With the addition of this multi-family project, Skyline now produces the equivalent of almost 12,000 megawatt-hours of solar thermal energy nationwide.
WNC & Associates, the industry leader for facilitating affordable housing tax credits with a portfolio of over 1,200 properties, partnered with Skyline to launch this triple-bottom-line project. The partners held a ribbon-cutting event to give a glimpse into the future mainstream appeal and growth potential for the California solar thermal industry. Both Skyline and WNC were presented with sustainability awards by the offices of Congressman Brad Sherman and State Senator Fran Pavley.
The event shined light on the realignment of the
California Solar Initiative (CSI) Thermal Program that has been galvanized by strong stakeholder enthusiasm. Robin Dutta, who heads up California market development at Skyline Innovations stated,
The solar industry knows the potential of the CSI-Thermal program, but it has fallen well short of expectations. That can all change if the Public Utility Commission acts now to implement the necessary reforms that have been submitted to them. Solar water heating systems such as the one at Coral Wood Court could become commonplace with a successfully restructured CSI-Thermal program.
In contrast, Germany receives less sunlight than just about any region in the continental United States, and yet produces more than six times the amount of solar energy. This resource-production difference can in part be attributed to innovative public policy.
So what’s on the horizon for Skyline? After having developed nearly 20 commercial-scale systems in California, there are 50 more projects in the company’s business development pipeline; production of their next solar thermal system for WNC & Associates began the day after the ribbon cutting event.
Nationally, Skyline has developed over 150 commercial-scale solar water heating systems, primarily in Maryland, California, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia. It’s business model utilizes over $60 million in project capital to fully finance its solar thermal systems through a power purchase agreement and an indexed energy rate that guarantees energy cost savings to customers. Skyline was founded in 2009 and celebrates its 5th year of existence in August 2014.
