From left to right, Linda Herndon, president of the Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District Board; Judy Mirbegian, board vice president; Reef Atwell of the US Department of Agriculture; Bob Barton, Frances Bunce and Lyle La Faver, community services district directors; Brad Onorato of Congressman Mike Thompson's office; Jim Comstock, Lake County Board of Supervisors, Mel Aust, Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District general manager; Tasha Klewe, project manager; Brian Costa, Real Goods Solar; and Wendy Ziegler of Winzler & Kelly. Photo courtesy of Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Lake County’s abundant sunshine is a valuable resource. It keeps crops, but not energy rates, growing.

Hidden Valley Lake’s water reclamation plant is going solar, which will provide both environmental and economic benefits to the south county community of about 7,000 residents.

The Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its Photovoltaic Sustainability Energy Project on Monday, Oct. 24, at the water treatment facility at 18896 Grange Road in Middletown.

The $1,967,132 project is funded by a combination of sources that include a US Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant of $885,209, a $640,000 USDA loan that will be offset by energy savings and $441,992 that will come from district reserves provided by new customer connection fees, said Tasha Klewe, the district's controller.

“We are the first solar project that has been funded from Rural Development” aid, Klewe said.

According to USDA Rural Development's Web page, “program assistance is provided in many ways, including direct or guaranteed loans, grants, technical assistance, research and educational materials.”

According to the district, the US Department of Agriculture may use it as a demonstration project for other water districts throughout the nation.

The contract for the work was awarded to San Rafael-based Real Goods Solar Inc. The engineering firm Winzler & Kelly, a subsidiary of GHD – “an international network of engineers, architects and environmental scientists” – developed the project.

Real Goods will supply and install an array of 1176 Sharp 240W solar panels that will cover one acre at the water reclamation plant. The panels will produce 420,000 kWh per year; enough power for about 75 homes.

The new solar installation will reportedly reduce the community’s carbon emissions by approximately 120 tons per year.

The company is now employing staffed labor, but will use “local labor through our hiring firm as the project momentum increases,” said Real Goods Commercial Project Manager Brian Costa.

“We have used two laborers for about a week who are local Lake County guys,” said Costa, with more expected to be employed as the project progresses.

The solar project will add to other sustainability efforts in Hidden Valley, which also reuses all of its treated wastewater for golf course irrigation.

The district’s Web site, www.hiddenvalleylakecsd.com/, will provide a monitoring system to allow customers to view power production and demand online.

The project is expected to fix energy prices for treating wastewater for the next three decades, according to the district.

The current schedule to go online, Klewe said, is Dec. 7.

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