The Sweetwater Authority, a South County water district, is making moves to install solar panels on its drinking water reservoir. It would be the first time solar panels have been floated on a drinking reservoir in the United States.
Sweetwater’s general manager has been dreaming of the floating panels since his past gigs at other water districts. Solar Tracking System
“On my commute home every day I used to drive by Lake Matthews. Wouldn’t it be cool to have floating solar up there, was something I would think about,” Quintero said.
As a first step toward making the panels a reality, Sweetwater has hired a company called Noria Energy to study the possible cost savings of floating solar.
As our MacKenzie Elmer writes: “Noria has built floating solar arrays on top of a hydroelectric reservoir in Urra, Colombia and on wastewater treatment ponds in Healdsburg, California, both smaller than the solar panel array proposed at Sweetwater.”
But, of course, some residents aren’t stoked about the project.
Read the full story here.
Vista and Encinitas have followed through on fast-track plans to open a joint homeless shelter in North County. The shelter will open in March. It will have 36 beds set aside for Vista residents and 12 for Encinitas residents.
The shelter came about so quickly, in part, because Vista leaders realized last year that many homeless beds they’d been funding were unavailable to Vista residents. The majority of referrals from Vista were not actually getting a bed because the shelter had limited space.
Vista, along with Encinitas, decided to start its own shelter to avoid the problem. The shelter will be low-barrier, meaning it won’t require things like sobriety or background checks.
In other North County homeless news: Our North County reporter Tigist Layne will be watching more developments related to homelessness in Encinitas. The city’s mayor plans to consider a ban on camping in RV’s on public roads, as well as camping in public places.
Read the North County Report here.
We are relaunching the Sacramento Report this week!
Our Deborah Brennan will provide weekly updates on San Diego politics and representatives at the state Capitol. Her first newsletter will publish on Friday.
Don’t miss it! Subscribe to the Sacramento Report here.
The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
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