SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. –  A ceremonial “switch-on” moment to officially launch the new solar array at South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) was held on Wednesday, bringing together members of the public and partners of the project. The new solar array is expected to generate approximately 2M kilowatt-hours annually, enough to cover about one-third of STPUD’s needs at the wastewater treatment plant.

STPUD is Liberty’s largest energy customer in the Lake Tahoe Basin. They have 80 facilities, so STPUD’s overall usage won’t go down 33 percent, just that at the treatment plant on Meadow Crest Drive in South Lake Tahoe.

The new solar energy is expected to save STPUD $190,000 this year, and a savings of $5.5M over the next 30 years.

Since Lake Tahoe water companies must export all recycled effluent out of the basin, the power bill just at the Luther Pass pump station is $1 million per year. Electricity costs continue to rise for homes, businesses, and agencies, with the situation beyond users’ control, so solar was one way to help with expenses.

“This sets the pathway to where we are going in the future,” said STPUD Boardmember Nick Exline to the gathered group.

The new array’s footprint is about eight acres and sits on 1.5 acres and contains 2,112 panels, every one 8 feet by 3.7 feet in size. The 18 rows of panels are designed for Tahoe’s conditions. STPUD staff reached out to other mountain communities that use solar, like Mammoth and Truckee, to get advice on what worked best in those areas. The panels are elevated and slanted so the snow will slide off. They are also what is known as bifacial, capturing the sunlight from above and reflected heat from the ground. The racking system the panels sit on used no cement, and is like big screws that went into the ground – no grading necessary.

The idea for the solar array began in 2019, and the STPUD team, under the guidance of Julie Ryan and Trevor Coolidge, transformed the idea into reality with collaboration from the partners at the City of South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Lahontan Regional Water Quality Board, Liberty Utilities and project developer Staten.

The solar array required no start-up costs provided by STPUD, and the panels are owned and operated by a third party.

The actual solar project was energized on New Year’s Eve 2025 in order to get clean energy tax credits that were expiring that day.