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Bonita Unified School District (BUSD) and SunPower celebrate the near completion of multiple SunPower® Helix™ solar systems across 13 school sites in California's San Gabriel Valley with a community ribbon-cutting event at San Dimas High School on January 11, 2017.
A combination of carports, shade structures and fixed-tilt systems will total 3.9 megawatts. The Helix systems are complete with SunPower® EnergyLink™ software, a comprehensive, powerful energy intelligence software (EIS) for solar which quantifies real-time demand charge savings, and identifies demand peaks and savings opportunities. BUSD expects to save more than $26 million in electricity costs over 30 years by switching to solar.
"The money saved over the next 30 years will be used to support the educational programs of the District," said Assistant Superintendent Ann Sparks. "SunPower was selected because they provide the industry's best power and product warranty, system maintenance, and value pricing. We are very happy to be working with them."
The SunPower® Helix™ systems installed at the school sites are expected to generate more than 6 million kilowatt hours of clean solar energy each year. Over 30 years, this would equate to removing nearly 26,000 cars from the road according to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator. To finance the majority of the project, the District secured U.S. Department of Treasury clean renewable energy bonds (CREBs), which are available to certain entities, primarily in the public sector, to finance renewable energy projects. BUSD also owns the renewable energy credits associated with the systems. About $2 million of the cost will be supplied through Measure AB funds, which voters approved in 2008.
"We're thrilled to celebrate BUSD's commitment to a clean energy future with SunPower's high efficiency, high reliability solar," said Bill Kelly, SunPower vice president. "It's rewarding to see a district like BUSD reduce electricity costs through solar power, while demonstrating the incredible potential of renewable energy to their students, the energy that will power their future."
SunPower has installed more than 135MW of energy solutions in 30 California school districts. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), this is enough to power 33,750 average California homes.
(Photo: SunPower’s Helix carport installation. Source: SunPower)