EPA Sustainability Honor Awarded to University Solar Plant

Cal Poly’s commitment to environmental sustainability, as it marches toward a carbon-neutral future, was recognized with a trio of national and state awards.

Cal Poly is among only six organizations nationwide to receive a Leadership Award for direct project engagement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The awards were presented in late September.

The university currently generates more than 10 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually from its on-site solar energy systems — enough to power more than 1,000 homes, or about 25 percent of the campus’s total power needs

The EPA recognizes the Green Power Partnership, a voluntary program that encourages organizations to use green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use. This type of energy is a subset of renewable sources — solar, wind, geothermal and small hydroelectric energy — and represents the resources and technologies that provide the highest environmental benefit.  

Green Power Partners distinguish themselves through on- and off-site projects using a variety of financing structures to access renewable energy certificate (REC)-based green power. At the end of 2019, the group included more than 1,400 partner organizations, including colleges and universities; local, state and federal governments; and Fortune 500 firms.

“EPA is proud to recognize California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo as a winner of the Direct Project Engagement Award for 2020,” said Matt Clouse, chief of EPA’s Energy Supply and Industry Branch and a 20-year agency veteran. “As we celebrate the 20th year of Green Power Leadership Awards, Cal Poly’s commitment to using green power demonstrates that environmental leadership goes hand-in-hand with business performance.”

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