A new farm on the Central Coast isn’t growing strawberries, or celery. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s new farm is making electricity.
The new 18 acre farm off of Highway 1 west of the campus can generate more than 11 million kilowatt hours of power a year. It’s enough electricity to cover about a quarter of Cal Poly’s annual needs.
The university partnered with REC Solar for the project, which designed, built, and will maintain the facility. The university didn’t have to pay any upfront costs, but signed a long term deal to buy the clean energy at below market rates.
It’s expected Cal Poly will save $10 million dollars in power costs during the next two decades.