SunEdison and Green Charge Networks teamed up to deliver a solar plus storage system to the municipal utility Silicon Valley Power, California. This project is part of an ongoing strategic partnership between SunEdison and Green Charge Networks to deliver additional electricity savings to commercial and municipal customers throughout the state.
Electricity bills for commercial and municipal customers typically have both energy charges and demand charges, in California. SunEdison and Green Charges’ solar plus energy storage systems are able to save both portions of their bills -- the solar power will help save the amount of electricity drawn from the grid, while the energy storage system will reduce the amount of power needed at one time from the grid.
“Demand charges in California can account for as much as 50% of a commercial or municipal customer's electricity bill,” noted Tim Derrick, SunEdison general manager of Advanced Solutions. “Solar plus energy storage is a great way for California customers to realize immediate savings.”
The partnership between SunEdison and Green Charge, one of the largest commercial energy storage providers in the U.S., creates a comprehensive solution for those target customers to holistically evaluate both their energy and power use, emphasized Vic Shao, CEO of Green Charges.
Silicon Valley Power, the municipal utility serving the City of Santa Clara, is the first joint customer of the new partnership. The solar plus storage system is located at the Tasman Drive parking structure next to the new football stadium. To date, the SunEdison solar system at the Tasman Drive parking structure has generated more than 1.18 GWh of clean energy and eliminated the emission of approximately two million pounds of carbon dioxide.
"We are proud to have an intelligent energy storage system combined with an EV fast-charger at our Tasman Garage across from the stadium," said John Roukema, the utility director of Silicon Valley Power. "This system has been in operation for more than nine months and was installed with no upfront costs to the utility."
The strategic partnership combines SunEdison's solar development, asset management and financing expertise with Green Charge's intelligent energy storage system and networked management platform. Customers are able to install a solar plus storage system with zero upfront costs by signing a power purchase agreement with SunEdison and a power efficiency agreement with Green Charge.