In 1975, the City of Santa Clara established the nation's first municipal solar utility. Under the Solar Water Heating Program, the Santa Clara Water & Sewer Utilities Department supplies, installs and maintains solar water heating systems for residents and businesses. In addition, the city has also installed solar energy equipment for a number of its own facilities.

Solar equipment is offered by the City for the heating of swimming pools, process water, and domestic hot water. The pieces of hardware (solar collectors, controls and storage tanks) are owned and maintained by the city under a rental agreement. The renter pays an initial installation fee and a monthly utility fee. These amounts vary according to the size of the installation. 

Swiming Pools

The swimming pool solar heating system would normally connect into the standard pool circulating system and operate in conjunction with a conventional heater. The system that the city installs would include the collectors, the plumbing between collectors and the pump/filter equipment, and a thermostatic control to regulate the flow to the collectors.

Domestic Hot Water

A solar domestic water heating system would include two to three collectors, a storage tank, circulating pump and an automatic control. Since solar cannot provide 100% of the heating, some conventional backup heater would be required. This could be installed as a separate hot water heater plumbed in series with the solar storage tank, or the solar system may be installed with an electric heating element integral with the solar storage tank. 

For any questions concerning the Solar Utility Program, or for assistance in planning for a solar heating installation, call (408) 615-2000 - Santa Clara City Solar Utility 

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Want to see how a solar system will look on your Santa Clara rooftop? Use hahaSmart design DIY tool.