San Clemente’s Villas by the Sea co-owner, Paul Brazeau and his wife, Aileen, pulled a lever on Tuesday, December 28 that sent solar-cell-generated electrical power surging into the assisted living care facility, located at 660 Camino Los Mares. His decision to go solar will not only make the Villas San Clemente’s business with the largest electricity-generating solar array in town—but they will also boast the largest PV system on an assisted living facility in the entire United States. Not to mention, going green will save Brazeau $38,500 per year on electric and heating bills—with, of course, the moral benefits that accompany an environmentally conscious, renewable energy source. Westlake Village based Solar Electrical Systems, who provides and installs both residential and commercial solar power systems throughout Southern California, physically completed installment in October of 2010 — but they were first approached by Brazeau in the summer of 2009, when the conversations between he and the solar energy company owner, Greg Johanson, began rolling.

The Villas, situated on a complicated hillside, posed a few challenges. “We were in full engineering design during the beginning of ’10,” said Solar Electrical Systems Contract Manager, Cheri Stevens. “And the designs underwent many divisions. It was interesting. But all of our design issues worked out.” And despite the backlash from the community with concerns about the aesthetics of possible solar panels at the La Pata/Vista Hermosa Sports Park, Brazeau’s system seems to have officially commenced without a hitch. The project, which finally entailed the installment of three solar electrical systems—one on the rooftop, one on a solar carport and one on the hillside—had officially passed building code inspections and such by December 10. “Everything went really smoothly,” said Stevens. And to make things equally as smooth for Brazeau, when Solar Electrical Systems mapped out the Villas’ cost-effective package for him, they employed web-based monitoring that automatically emails them if any problems occur. The software also records the daily, monthly and total energy generated so business and homeowners can keep track of exactly what they are paying for—and saving.

The 288 kW solar array will provide Brazeau with a total return on his investment in just four years. Plus, under the new California Solar Initiative, solar power rebates and tax incentives will be available to him and he will save $16,444,000 over the next 30 years.

The solar panel installation is visible from Interstate 5, off the Estrella exit, and with the many aesthetic concerns residents voiced against the solar panels that would heat and power the La Pata/Vista Hermosa Sports Park.

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