As part of its Community Mitigation Grants Program, the Port of Long Beach recently awarded the Long Beach Rescue Mission $176,045 to install solar photovoltaic panels for electricity generation at their 1335 Pacific Ave. facility.
The Rescue Mission held a groundbreaking ceremony for the project on May 30. Flanked by solar panels to be installed on location, Port of Long Beach Acting Executive Director Al Moro made a short speech about the impact of the new solar electricity system on the Rescue Mission.
The community grant program, designed to improve public health by lessening the impacts of Port-related air pollution and to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, has awarded over $5.4 million.
The Long Beach Rescue Mission’s programs, providing food, shelter and services to the homeless, will directly benefit from the electricity savings derived from the solar generation.
“The savings from the solar system will go directly to our programs,” said Robert Probst, director of the Long Beach Rescue Mission. “We are thankful to the city of Long Beach, Harbor Commissioners and the Port of Long Beach for this great solar project.”
The system is predicted by the California Energy Commission to generate 55,715 kilowatt-hours of power a year with an average daily of 153 kWh; at 25 cents per kWh this system has a potential value of around $38.25 per day. That amount can potentially feed over 30 people a day, close to 10,000 people a year. That’s over 300,000 people being fed over the 30-year expectancy of the solar system.
The Port also awarded a $500,000 grant to St. Mary Medical Center Foundation to retrofit its two boilers, which is expected to lower power use by about 35 percent and natural gas usage by 3.5 percent, and also announced a $300,000 grant to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for St. Anthony High School for a solar power generation system on three roofs of the campus’ buildings.
The Port of Long Beach is one of the world‘s premier seaports, a primary gateway for trans-Pacific trade and a trailblazer in innovative goods movement, safety and environmental stewardship. With 140 shipping lines connecting Long Beach to 217 seaports worldwide, the Port handles trade valued at $155 billion each year and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in Southern California.