The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is installing  5 MW of PV on the Sunset Reservoir (technically, under a PPA with Recurrent Energy).  The mayor held a press event today to celebrate…well, to celebrate the fact that construction is underway.  About a quarter done–5,000 Suntech 210 w panels on Sunlink racks, another ~20,000 to go.

This is just one plank in SF’s clean energy efforts.  In addition to this wholesale solar project, the city offers incentives for self-generation with solar, and is launching a major financing program for energy efficiency, water conservation, and clean energy retrofits.

And lest anyone not get that clean tech leadership means jobs, lets highlight the fact that Recurrent (a SF-based company) subbed the install to the local Bass Electric (top-notch, having had the experience with a lot of large-scale installs under their belt), who agreed to hire 30% of the install crew from the 7 most-disadvantaged zip codes in the city, including graduates from the SF CityBuild training program.  Suntech is providing the panels (North American HQ in SF, 60 + employees), and Sunlink is providing the racking system (based across the bay in Richmond).

It’s really a beautiful site–see more pics here.

A view as iconic as the Golden Gate