Santa Clarita Transit (SCT) is tapping Southern California’s abundant sunshine as part of an effort to reduce the transit agency’s greenhouse gas emissions.

With the help of a $4.6 million award from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s TIGGER Program, the transit agency installed a 65,000-square-foot photovoltaic (PV) system atop its Transit Maintenance Facility (TMF). More than 3,200 PV panels now cover the facility’s bus wash and four bus ports. The new solar canopy is expected to generate enough electrical power to offset up to 97% of the facility’s electricity use — equivalent to half of Santa Clarita Transit’s total energy consumption.

The project was completed in July 2011. The solar panels were manufactured by Lamb Energy & Professional Solar Products; Stronghold Engineering served as a consultant on the project.