Photovoltaic DER System Could Save USPS $25,000 per Year in Marina del Rey, California

In numerous projects, government agencies are demonstrating the economic and environmental value of using distributed energy resources (DER) to provide reliable electricity for Federal facilities. These projects also show how renewable DER systems such as photovoltaics (PV) can be effectively integrated into utility power grids to provide added power during peak demand periods in populous regionsand states. This four-page case study describes a recent project in which the United States Postal Service (USPS) worked with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), a national laboratory, the local utility, and a private company to install a PV DER system at the USPS Marina Processing and Distribution Center in Inglewood, California. This system is expectedto shave 10% off the facility's 1.2-megawatt peak power demand and save more $25,000 per year in utility costs.