PPM director Tom Brown helps bring solar power to CSUN

Cal State Northridge's two solar electric systems installations constitute one of the largest solar electric systems at a public university in California. Southern California Gas Company (The Gas Company) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) officials recently presented CSUN with incentive checks totaling more than $2.1 million to dedicate the university's second solar electric system.

The more than 2,800 165-watt solar panels built on the southwest side of campus, combined with more than 3,000 75-watt panels on Northridge's north side, are expected to save the university more than $140,000 annually in energy costs while contributing to a cleaner environment.

The project was developed by the university's Physical Plant Management (PPM), under PPM director Tom Brown, working with The Gas Company and LADWP.

Photovoltaic cells in the panels absorb the sun's rays, creating power that is converted and fed into a power grid that distributes electricity throughout the campus. A team of CSUN engineering students, who redesigned some of the installation equipment to make the process user-friendlier, oversaw this latest solar project's installation.