PETALUMA, Calif. -- Nestled among the rolling green hills of the Petaluma countryside, in northern California, Coast Guard Training Center Petaluma serves as the training hub for many of the Coast Guard's jobs and specialty schools. According to Captain Chris Hall, Commanding Officer of Training Center Petaluma, the Coast Guard base is more than a training center, it is a community of individuals who share a commitment to mission, respect and innovation. That shared commitment will now extend to include a greener, environmentally compatible Coast Guard base.

On Saturday, Oct. 24, Rear Adm. Timothy Sullivan, commander Force Readiness Command, and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, 6th Congressional District, joined Hall and other Coast Guard personnel, including training center students, in dedicating a four-acre array of solar panels recently completed at the Training Center.

Earlier this year, the Coast Guard awarded the first Power Purchase Agreement in its history to SilRay Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif. The PPA is an agreement between the Coast Guard and the contractor, SilRay, in which the contractor will pay for the expense of building, operating and maintaining a solar photovoltaic system on Coast Guard property. In exchange, the contractor is awarded tax credits and discounts, making the construction more affordable. The Coast Guard benefits from the installation of the renewable energy resource facility with no up-front costs, and is able to purchase the energy produced by the system at a contracted rate for the next 25 years.

"This project cost the Coast Guard $6 million to complete," said Tony vanWinden, Energy Manager at TRACEN Petaluma, "but by awarding the PPA the Coast Guard pays none of the up-front cost and the contractor receives tax credits and incentives which make the construction more affordable. It's a win-win situation," he said.

The agreement helps the Coast Guard save money, have less of an impact on the environment and decreases the demand for energy on the local community power grid, said vanWinden.

He went on to explain that this will be especially noticeable in the summer months during peak demand when energy consumption is at its highest and the energy production of the on-base solar array will also be at its peak.

The PPA also helps the Coast Guard meet the standards set forth by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 by increasing its use of renewable energy.  The agreement is in line with several provisions built into the Act, including establishing a photovoltaic energy commercialization program in federal buildings and, producing renewable energy on site or on federally owned land, said vanWinden.

 "The agreement benefits the Coast Guard, it benefits our neighbors, it benefits California and, with rising energy costs, it's a step in the right direction," said Commander Jeff Good, TRACEN Petaluma's Facilities Engineering Officer.

The PPA also falls in line with the Petaluma green initiative, a multiple branch program designed to make the Coast Guard base more environmentally compatible through a combined effort to decrease energy consumption and improve water conservation.

“One of the things we need to be as coast guardsmen, is good model citizens. Projects like this, working with the community, help us fulfill some of that creed,” said Sullivan.

"You just have to know how proud we all are that this community was the first to start something of this caliber," said Congresswoman Woosley.

"We want to be a good neighbor and a good steward, said Hall. "This is an area that is incredibly environmentally sensitive. It's important to our neighbors, it's important to our Congresswoman, and to be a good steward in the Coast Guard is important to us."

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