SunPower today announced that Gavilan College selected it as a partner to deploy a fully integrated solar and storage project at its campus in Gilroy, Calif.
The project will feature a SunPower Helix Carport system totaling about 1.4 megawatts, across two of the college’s largest parking lots, enhanced by a 250-kilowatt (500 kilowatt-hour) energy storage solution from Stem, to help deliver significant demand charge savings.
To help finance the project, Gavilan Joint Community College District secured U.S. Department of Treasury clean renewable energy bonds (CREBs) with a 1.05 percent interest rate after a federal tax credit, which allows public sector entities to fund renewable energy projects. The district will own the solar power system along with the associated renewable energy credits.
“Investing in cleaner energy while providing covered parking for our students with this solar carport system made complete sense for us,” said Frederick E. Harris, vice president of Administrative Services at Gavilan College.
“Together with SunPower, we have designed a unique system that will offset approximately 75 percent of our electricity use on the Gilroy campus, include a storage system allowing us to avoid expensive utility demand charges, feature enhanced parking lot lighting, and incorporate up to 102 electric car charging stations in compliance with the California Green Building Code,” Harris added.
SunPower’s complete carport solution delivers 45 percent more electricity in the same amount of space over 25 years compared to conventional solar panels, SunPower said.
They are also backed by an industry-leading power and product warranty, providing customer confidence over the life of the contract. Stem, Inc. will provide an AI-driven energy storage solution to help maximize the value of the solar project.
Rajani Baburajan