Sonoma Police Department

Civic Solar Electric Installation Project Profile

Sonoma's Police Department is now powered by clean energy from the sun. The 62.4 kW solar electric system will offset nearly 70% of the annual bill for the Police Department / Community meeting room. Excess power will be fed back into the PG&E grid for credit towards future use.

The roof-mounted system utilizes 279 U.S. manufactured Sharp 224 watt solar panels. The panels cover 4,900 square feet of the south facing roofs, and help shade and protect the building, reducing summer cooling load. The system is expected to generate 89,000 kilowatt hours annually.

SolarCraft's winning design is unique. Each of the 279 solar modules is controlled by individual micro-inverters manufactured by Enphase Energy of Petaluma, CA. The micro-inverters were the solution to a shading issue caused by a telecommunications tower on the south side of the building. Unlike more conventional solar electric systems, the micro-inverters will allow the rest of the solar modules to produce at full capacity no matter how many panels may be shaded, and greatly increase the overall system efficiency.

SolarCraft also installed an Enphase Enlighten monitoring system, providing unprecedented visibility into the performance of each module. Enlighten's website shows a graphical representation of the solar array, with at-a-glance information of each module's status. The monitoring system is publicly displayed in the Community Meeting Room lobby.

Customer Profile
In 2004, the City of Sonoma contracted with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department to provide law enforcement services. The Sonoma Police Department still provides the same high level of service it always has, and has added several new positions in response the community needs.

Under the direction of Chief of Police Bret Sackett, the department is staffed by two Sergeants, nine deputies, a School Resource Officer, a Traffic Officer, two Community Service Officers and two administrative positions.