Cerro Coso Community College, part of the Kern Community College District, has found a way to cut energy costs by 75 percent.

Through Measure G money and help from the electric company Edison, Cerro Coso, located in Ridgecrest, was able to install a seven-acre field of solar panels. These panels add up to one megawatt of energy.

The college got $4.5 million from Measure G and $4.5 million from Edison to install the panels.

Sharon Dyer, president of Cerro Coso, said the solar panels will power the main building on the campus. “It will cut our energy costs by $300,000 per year,” Dyer said.

Dyer said that energy not used will go back into the Edison power grid.

Ken Meier, vice-president of student learning at Bakersfield College, said solar-panel technology would not work well at BC because of the cost of building it.

“The solar-panel technology, which I approve of and I am really glad we got it going (at Cerro Coso), If you look at what it cost per watt, it is still a hell of a lot more expensive than it cost to buy electricity from PG&E,” said Meier.

“If you look at the amount of energy that it takes to create a silicon solar panel, there’s a ratio to the amount of electricity that it costs. It’s extremely expensive electricity. The technology is still far more expensive than a coal or natural gas power plant,” he said.

Meier said that it is going to save Cerro Coso money because Edison paid for half of the cost.

“We are going to try to improve our energy efficiency with this (Measure) G money. I am hoping to have a very energy efficient building with the new Humanities building,” Meier said.

Measure G is a $180 million bond measure approved by voters in 2002 for improvements at KCCD colleges.