The roofs of hundreds of houses at two local Air Force bases could boast a distinctive shine in the coming months.

Contractors expect to begin installing thousands of solar panels atop 619 houses across Peterson and Schriever Air Force bases this month — a move that should leave slightly more than two-thirds of the homes at the bases generating solar power.

The project, which is expected to take a year to complete, is the first for any housing developments on the two bases, said Jason Michael, a spokesman for Tierra Vista, which manages the housing communities.

The communities on each base should “benefit greatly” in the long term, though savings in the first year could be lower due to the time needed for the system to be fully installed and implemented, said Ryan Mielke, a Tierra Vista spokesman.

The solar panels are expected reduce overall utilities costs at the Schriever community by 5 percent in the first year, Mielke said. Cost savings could take slightly longer to amount at Peterson, he said.

At Peterson, 442 of the 667 houses either built or projected to be built on base will be retrofitted with 10,400 solar panels, an addition that is expected to generate nearly 3.45 million kilowatt hours of energy every year.

An additional 3,600 solar panels are expected to be installed atop 177 of the 242 houses at Schriever, creating 1.24 million kilowatt hours of energy annually.

No Defense Department money is expected to be used for the project, Michael said, because funding will come entirely from Tierra Vista. The panels are to be provided and installed by SolarCity, a California-based solar energy company.

“It makes good community sense,” Mielke said. “We want to make sure that we help the Air Force meet its goal of having green energy, a large percentage of green energy, on each one of their installations.”

“It gives us a reliable source of energy for decades.”

The move follows a sweeping push across military installations across the Pikes Peak region to generate solar energy.

Fort Carson officials have built several solar farms in recent years as a part of its “net zero” push, which aims to leave the post independent of outside energy sources.

Much of that energy on post comes from a 2-megawatt solar array installed in 2007, while other arrays have been constructed atop buildings and carports.

A 30-acre solar array at the Air Force Academy’s south gate was finished in April 2011, providing the academy with 11 percent of its energy needs.

—

Contact Jakob Rodgers: 476-1654

Twitter @jakobrodgers

Facebook Jakob Rodgers

A house at Schriever Air Force Base retrofitted to conserve water. Tierra Vista, which manages the base’s houses, said that it plans to add another environmentally-friendly measure — solar panels — beginning this month. Photo by Courtesy of the 50th Space Wing