View of solar panels at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center. Photo C. Tyson

Who doesn't like clean, renewable energy? In Lafayette it's obviously very popular - borne out by the number of residential, commercial and municipal businesses with shiny new solar panels installed in 2009. Because of all those installations, Lafayette has just been recognized as being one of the top ranked Bay Area cities for newly installed photovoltaic technology by the Northern California Solar Energy Association.

Lafayette will be recognized as a solar leader among over one hundred communities in a ceremony to be held at Moscone Center in San Francisco in mid-July.

The win is exclusive of the anticipated 200 solar panel-covered parking spaces that the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) is expected to install in early 2011 at the Lafayette station. Riders should note that during construction there will be a temporary loss of parking spaces, but once complete, all existing spots will be available. The Lafayette solar panel array will be five times the size of the Orinda station's 40 covered carport spaces

BART management studied a number of potential locations and has whittled the list down to three projects - solar carports at both the Lafayette and Orinda stations and a solar farm at a BART district property in Livermore. There are existing solar projects in Hayward and Richmond at BART maintenance facilities.