EL CAMINO REAL
LOS ALTOS, CA
El Camino Real in Los Altos, CA is a major commercial corridor dominated by multi-tenant office and retail buildings, typically ranging from 25,000–37,000 sq ft, serving technology and professional services tenants. The corridor's daytime-intensive office occupancy and ample surface/structured parking make it well-suited for carport solar.
Projected savings.
Year 1
$68,700
Lifetime (~30 yr)
$5,123,000
By the numbers.
1.3
Years to payback
$12.1M
Total benefits (lifetime)
$7.0M
Property value gain
$246,367
Tax incentives captured
Levelized cost of electricity
Like most LOS ALTOS businesses, the site was paying high Peak rates and large Demand charges — the kind of bill structure that punishes daytime energy use and penalizes the very hours commercial properties consume the most power. The result was a Levelized Cost Of Energy (LCOE) of $1.16/kWh from PG&E, reduced to $0.02/kWh from SolarPorts.
SolarPorts evaluated their interval power usage (every 15 minutes) and proposed a right-sized 75.0 kW solar system for on-site generation delivered as 2 SolarPort carport structures above the parking lot.
The system now produces roughly 146,662 AC kWh of clean energy each year, an estimated $68,700 in year-one utility offsets, and around $5,123,000 in net lifetime savings — turning a recurring operating-cost into a long-term, predictable energy hedge.
System spec
System design
- Site
- EL CAMINO REAL
LOS ALTOS, CA 94022 - APN
- 16711040
- Utility
- PG&E
- Seismic rating
- 0.99
- Irradiance
- 2
- System size
- 75.0 kW DC
- Estimated production
- 146,662 AC kWh / year
- Year-1 utility offset
- $68,700
- Lifetime savings (~30 yr)
- $5,123,000
- Solar panels
- 120 × Q.TRON XL-G2.3/BFG
- SolarPort structures
- 2
- Wire loss
- 2.0%
Quick request
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