SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE), has signed a 20 year power purchase agreement with the Rialto Unified School District in California that will see 8.4 megawatts of solar power installed across all 28 schools in the district.
The PV arrays, which will generate enough electricity each year to power more than 1,300 homes, will be constructed as solar canopies on the parking lots of the schools. As a side benefit, the solar panels will provide shading to the cars parked beneath, a welcome feature given the average daytime temperature in the Rialto area in July and August reaches 35C.
Under the arrangement, Rialto Unified School District projects to save 20% on electricity costs, which translates to USD $1 million saved in the first year of operations. A total financial benefit of USD $30 million in savings is estimated over the duration of the 20 year contract.
“These savings can be used to fund other critical needs, and the solar systems can be incorporated into the curriculum as real life examples of innovative science at work,” said Dr. Cuauhtémoc Avila, Rialto Unified School District superintendent. ” SunEdison has a great track record of solar installations for schools throughout California and we’re delighted to be working with them on this project.”
The project will avoid an estimated 9,525 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent of taking more than 2,000 cars off the road.
SunEdison says the canopy mounted solar panel systems are expected to be completed in the second half of 2016 and the company will provide ongoing operation and maintenance services. SunEdison’s yieldco, TerraForm Power, Inc. (Nasdaq: TERP), anticipates acquiring these projects once complete.
Early this year, SunEdison was chosen as the exclusive solar provider for the 250 member school districts of California’s School Project for Utility Rate Reduction (SPURR). At that point in time, the company had already installed 82 solar power systems in K-12 campuses across the state.
Closer to home, SunEdison has also installed a number of systems in schools across Australia.
