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Trophy Company Takes Lead in Los Angeles Rooftop Solar

By Chris Clarke
November 22, 2013
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This rooftop looks different and more productive now | Photo: Google Maps

If you wanted to give some kind of award to the company that just became the largest participant in the L.A. Department of Water and Power's CLEAN LA Solar program, we know where you could get a pretty good deal.

The Southern California Trophy Company at Broadway and West 25th St. in downtown L.A. has 134 kilowatts of rooftop solar going live this week, making it the largest participant in LADWP's program that buys power generated on Los Angeles rooftops.

The trophy company, in business for 86 years, has been involved with production of awards ranging from the Oscars and Golden Globes to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games' gold medals. Which makes taking first place among the DWP's feed-in tariff partners just one more accomplishment in nearly a century of awards, though admittedly the firm more usually provides those awards rather than receiving them.

"We are thrilled to be one of the first businesses to partner with the LADWP to help accelerate our city's move toward clean energy," Southern California Trophy Company owner Karl Bathke said in a press release.

The rooftop array, built by L.A.-based company California Solar, will supply power to LADWP at a set price for the next 20 years.

"All development, design, installation and ongoing operation has been in the hands of small businesses based right here in Los Angeles," said California Solar's President Will Breiholz, "The solar system will continue to reap rewards for a business that's been part of our community for three generations."

The CLEAN LA Solar program, in its current form, will buy up to 150 megawatts of locally-sourced solar power from Los Angeles property owners. That's only a fortieth of the peak power demand on LADWP's grid, but as ReWire reported last week, a whole lot of that total demand for power could be met with arrays very much like the one atop the Southern California Trophy Company's downtown rooftop.

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