Last month, Solar Power Inc. installed twp photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems that total 492 kilowatts (kW) of solar power on Ventura County owned buildings in Southern California.

The two California solar generating systems totaled up to 2,448 solar modules manufactured by Solar Power and were installed using the company’s Skymount system to reduce the time it took to install the panels.

Built from aluminum and stainless steel, the system maximizes the system’s performance by tilting the panels to catch the most sunlight. It is designed to snap-in to place, which cuts out time consuming standard installation.

One of the PV systems, at 334-kilowatts (kW), was mounted on the county’s Fleet Services and Public Works buildings at the county’s Saticoy Operations Shipyard. A second system of 157 kWs was installed on the county’s Vanguard building.

So far the two installations have been performing as expected, according to Mike Villegas, head of the Ventura County Air Pollution Control. Villegas said the county still expects the two systems to generate somewhere around 728,000 kilowatt-hours of power each year and cut local emissions by over 500 pounds, just as they did when the plan was conceived in early 2008 and when they began using the two systems last month.

County officials are most enthusiastic about the money the new system will save the Ventura’s taxpayers while providing the county’s homes with clean, renewable energy.