Big Bear City, CA – The Big Bear Area Regional Wastewater Agency (BBARWA) had a ribbon cutting in celebration of the completion of the 4,166 solar panel solar project. The project which began a year ago creates 1.6 Megawatts of renewable energy. Vice-Chair Rick Herrick once said, this project is a “badge of honor” for the Agency. BBARWA is prioritizing green energy production thus ending an era of dependence on natural gas resulting in in addition to saving ratepayers money. Environmental responsibility is key to this Agency’s mission, and lower-cost, sustainable power was an objective set five years ago that has been realized in part to the solar project. Throughout the development and construction process, BBARWA team members worked diligently to overcome hurdles encountered to see this project to completion. General Manager David Lawrence would thanked his staff and governing board for their efforts to assure the project was completed on budget island on time. He went on to thank Paul Marconi with Bear Valley Electric Service, Inc. for the successful negotiation and implementation of the net metering rate. This project will provide an alternate power source for the community and can be expanded when the Replenish Big Bear Project comes online. Incredibly, the first year of operation is expected to produce 3,246,895 kilowatts of electricity with a net present value estimated to be around $2.7 million.
