The World Business Academy has joined with Clean Coalition, a non-profit organization with expertise in both policy advocacy and technical analysis, in a collaborative effort to survey solar potential for both south Santa Barbara and western Ventura counties. Utilizing Clean Coalition’s unique survey methodology, the Academy is identifying and mapping optimal county/municipal, commercial and industrial sites to determine their maximum solar generation. The flyover videos below provide a visual reference regarding the tremendous potentials of the communities in the Moorpark Sub-Area.
Please note that this survey is a work in progress, and many properties have yet to be surveyed. If you own or know of a property that would be a good candidate for solar development, please email us at [email protected] with your contact information and property address. We will map your property and send you an aerial photo with an estimate of its solar potential.
Goleta
With its newer, high-capacity distribution infrastructure, and high concentrations of commercial-industrial properties along the Hollister corridor from Storke to Turnpike intersections, Goleta offers tremendous potential to not only reduce system load at the point of greatest consumption (commercial-industrial properties consume almost 70% of total system energy), but also serve as a net exporter of energy to adjacent communities.
La Cumbre/Upper State/Downtown Santa Barbara
The Five Points/La Cumbre/Auto Mall complex offers ample roofs and parking areas that can host multi-MW solar generation. Combined with the commercial properties ranging down to the intersection at De La Vina, this area could service much energy demand in the Hope, Foothill, San Roque, Hitchcock and Samarkand residential neighborhoods. As the camera moves down through mid-State Street (De La Vina to Micheltorena), optimal properties are less concentrated but still present and can become anchors to surrounding neighborhoods. South of Micheltorena, we have mapped the blocks of State Street between Chapala and Anacapa, and will expand our survey outward to include city blocks along Santa Barbara and De La Vina Streets. Solar generation will vary, depending upon roof conditions and shading.
Cabrillo Waterfront (SBCC to the Zoo)
The SBCC campus and public parking lots along Cabrillo offer high generation potential. Combined with large warehouse properties located south of the 101 freeway, this area can generate additional energy to power the desalination plant and other downtown city blocks.
Montecito Microgrid
This flyover features how the survey will ultimately look after mapped areas are processed using Clean Coalition’s spreadsheet algorithms. Instead of yellow/orange polygons, each location’s solar potential, incorporating shading and roof density estimates, is displayed. The Academy and Clean Coalition are currently working to develop an initial microgrid system in the Upper Village (East Valley and San Ysidro), which will later be expanded to include properties along Coast Village Road and south of the 101 freeway. We hosted a meeting on the Montecito Community Microgrid in February, you can read more about it here.
Ventura/Oxnard/Port Hueneme/Camarillo
Although the Academy has not yet started to map this area in earnest, this flyover demonstrates Ventura County’s massive solar potential, particularly in the Oxnard area, where rooftops and parking lots at many sites often exceed 1 million square feet! A few mapped locations provide a reference point when looking at square miles of un-solarized properties.
Areas to be Surveyed:
Downtown Goleta
Calle Real (Fairview to Patterson)
Milpas Street (Anapamu to Cabrillo)
Cliff Drive at Meigs Road
Carpinteria
Ventura/Oxnard/Port Hueneme/Camarillo