The growth of "green" technologies and the businesses that produce them is expected to grow significantly over the next decade in the Inland Empire. But many eco-oriented businesses have already established a presence in Rancho Cucamonga, and their prospects for turning green into gold are very good. Case in point: SunWize Technologies, Inc., which specializes in the design and manufacture of solar energy (photovoltaic) systems.

SunWize Technologies recently established a presence in Rancho Cucamonga, where its new 71,000-square-foot facility will serve the company’s west coast commercial and residential customers. Currently, the facility provides a number of support services including assembly of components; staging for large installation projects; sales; and same-day distribution to customers all along the west coast. In the future, it is anticipated that more systems pre-assembly and staging will be done to support the company’s growing customer base.

One local project that SunWize recently completed, under its SunWize Power Systems residential and commercial installation business unit, was a 309-kW DC solar electric system for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Medical Center in Loma Linda. The installation is the first solar electric project in a Veterans Affairs-wide push to use renewable energy and improve energy efficiency. The Loma Linda Medical Center PV system, completed in September 2008, is expected to save the hospital approximately $60,000 a year in electricity costs and is one of the highest efficiency systems available today.

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