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This spring, Cajon Valley Union School District (CVUSD) and SunPower Corp. will begin construction of SunPower® Helix™ solar systems at 24 school sites in the El Cajon region of San Diego County. The solar installations totaling 4.6MW will primarily include carports, as well as a few rooftop systems, and should be operational by the end of this year.
"With CVUSD's solar investment, we continue to enrich both our schools and our communities by generating clean, renewable energy which will help save on electricity costs and improve our local environment," said Scott Buxbaum, CVUSD Assistant Superintendent of Business Services. "After reviewing qualifications and proposals from six firms, we are very pleased to have selected SunPower's proposal as the best value to the District. Their team has been great to work with."
CVUSD owns the solar power system, along with the associated renewable energy credits. To finance a 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.
"We're pleased to welcome CVUSD to a growing number of school districts across the country that are seeing the economic and environmental value that reliable solar energy solutions from SunPower can generate," said Nam Nguyen, SunPower senior vice president. "Innovative financing options like CREBs and local bonds can accelerate the return on a solar project, making it easy for schools to reinvest savings into their classrooms."
A leader in delivering innovative energy solutions to California schools, SunPower has installed more than 135 MW in 30 districts. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), this is enough to power 33,750 average California homes. Recently announced SunPower education customers include Bonita Unified School District, West Contra Costa Unified School District, and Colton Joint Unified School District.
Attendees of the 38th Annual Conference on School Facilities hosted by California's Coalition for Adequate School Housing in Sacramento, can visit SunPower at booth 209 to learn more about the benefits of solar for schools.
(Photo: Helix modules applied for carports in Bonita Unified School District. Source: SunPower)