Many future customers of the municipally-owned utility in Roseville, CA, will have super efficient homes and on-site photovoltaic systems installed on their roofs under a proposal approved recently by the Roseville City Council. The program could result in up to 4,000 new solar-powered homes built in Roseville over the next ten years. The nuts and bolts details of the utility’s Blueprint for Energy Efficiency and Solar Technology or BEST Homes proposal will be developed over the next six months with program implementation on July 1, 2006.
BEST Homes is more than a solar energy program. The goal of the program is to ensure that up to 20 percent of all new homes built in Roseville utilize design criteria that “substantially reduces, if not eliminates the home’s electricity bill.” Efficiency and sustainable design principles will also play a role.
In a related development, Roseville will also be bringing online its own power plant in 2007 to supply about 50 percent of the electric consumption within the city. The Roseville Energy Park will have an electric generating capacity of 160MW. At the moment, Roseville’s municipal electric utility must purchase all of its electricity needs from sources outside of the city. Roseville is a fast growing city with a current population of about 96,000 that is expected to increase to 133,000 by 2015.
More
- City Council Agenda and Information Packet for November 2, 2005 Meeting – Roseville, CA, City Council
- View the BEST Homes Presentation – Roseville City Council, November 2, 2005
- Roseville Electric HomePage
