Sand City's $14 million desalination plant was just completed this summer, but the payoffs are already beginning to trickle into city coffers.

Pacific Gas & Electric Company presented the city with a $96,435 rebate check for energy efficiency measures at the new Brackish Water Treatment Facility on Shasta and Catalina streets.

The facility's—energy recovery turbines, variable frequency drives, premium motors, an ultraviolet disinfection system, high-efficiency lighting, skylights and day-light controls—are expected to save more than 1.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 667 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, according to a PG&E press release.

The efficiency project, which cost the city $279,000, qualified for the rebate through PG&E's Non-Residential New Construction energy efficiency program. The rebate, combined with energy cost savings, set the project up to pay for itself within two years.