SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE), last week announced the signing of solar power purchase agreements (solar PPA‘s) with dozens of schools that will see solar car parking canopies constructed at each facility.
The solar PPA’s involve 25 elementary, middle, and high schools in the California unified school districts of Dixon, Downey, Duarte, Livermore and Newman Crows Landing. The arrangements will save the schools involved more than USD $30 million on energy costs over the next two decades.
As well as generating clean power, these structures will provide respite from the often harsh California sun and educational opportunities for students.
“I’m excited that we’re able to provide a hands-on experience for our students, with these solar systems we are teaching our students about one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy,” said Dr. Allan Mucerino, Duarte Unified School District’s Superintendent.
California’s School Project for Utility Rate Reduction (SPURR) assisted the districts with arranging the solar PPA’s with SunEdison.
In total, more than 7.4MW capacity will be installed across the schools. Collectively the solar power systems will generate sufficient electricity to offset more than half of all electricity used at each school and enough to power the equivalent of 1,700 Californian homes.
The positive environmental impact will be significant – more than 61,688 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions will be avoided over the term of the agreement.
According to SunEdison’s Sam Youneszadeh, the company has assisted more than 150 U.S. schools in slashing their power costs; freeing up funds for other school projects and activities.
Among SunEdison’s school projects are 28 solar canopies in the Rialto Unified School District in California, with a collective capacity of 8.4 megawatts.
Closer to home, SunEdison has also completed a number of solar schools projects in Australia.
Other solar parking canopy projects executed by the company in the U.S. include a massive 3.2MW array of SunEdison solar panels at Bristol Community College in Massachusetts, three systems for the City of Fremont in California; plus government facilities in Los Angeles County.
In other recent SunEdison news, the company announced it had signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the City of Watervliet, New York. An 868 kilowatt DC solar system will be installed under a net-metering arrangement, with the power be used in all city-owned buildings. The system will generate enough output to offset more than 83 percent of the city’s electricity usage for city-owned buildings.
The agreement is expected to save Watervliet taxpayers more than USD $1 million in energy costs over the next 20 years.
