Burbank Water and Power has completed a $17 million solar and battery storage installation at the Regional Intermodal Transportation Center. The project uses 4,260 American-made panels across a 174,000 square foot parking structure to generate 2 megawatts of clean power. This installation is part of the city's plan to reach zero-carbon energy by 2040. By integrating battery storage, the system captures excess daytime energy to stabilize the grid and lower costs during peak demand periods.
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Burbank just opened a 2MW solar and storage site on a parking garage. Cost them 17 million. It is a small piece of the 2040 zero carbon goal, but using existing airport infrastructure is a smart move.
2MW is a drop in the bucket for a city, but the location is the real win. Generating power right where it is used avoids the usual interconnection nightmares. Do we know the actual MWh capacity of the battery side?
Parking structures are the low hanging fruit for urban solar. No land acquisition costs and the shade helps the garage. The real question is the long term maintenance cost for panels in an airport environment with all that soot.
The 15 year timeline mentioned by the GM is the interesting part here. It shows how slow municipal procurement and airport authority partnerships move, even for standard solar arrays.
