Solar For The Santa Rosa Band

Starting this fall, Anza Electric Cooperative will help the Santa Rosa Band of the Cahuilla Indians and their neighbors reduce their monthly electric bills by up to 50%.

About 38 Cahuillas and 150 to 250 other residents on and off the reservation, in the high desert country northeast of San Diego, will be hooked up to a nearly 1-MW solar array built with volunteer labor by Grid Alternatives, an affordable solar company. The array has 2,628 panels and spreads across 5 acres.

“It’s a great project,” says Kevin Short, general manager of the 5,000-meter co-op. “It really benefits the low-income residents of the area.”

It was made possible by a $2 million grant from the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD) Low-income Weatherization Program’s Community Solar Pilot Program. It’s Grid Alternatives’ largest community-scale project so far.

The array project will save the beneficiaries about $5.4 million over the next 25 years through co-op bill credits.

Anza Electric’s headquarters is in the small town of the same name and about 7 miles from the reservation. Short says the cost of the Santa Rosa Band array will not affect the rates of the co-op’s 3,800 members on or off the reservation.