Kyocera Solar, in partnership with Madison School District, has initiated a 1.6MW solar energy project, the first that Kyocera has developed and financed through its in-house Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) program.
Madison School District and Kyocera worked new plan to bring solar energy to three Phoenix-area schools. More than 6,400 Kyocera high-efficiency solar panels are installed across the Madison One middle school and Park and Rose Lane elementary schools.
The system is expected to offset over 60 percent of the annual electricity consumed by the schools moving forward, utilizing the clean, renewable energy of the sun.
The project not only aims to reduce energy costs but also provides shade to students through the installation of solar panel structures. The company also looks forward to the system acting as a renewable energy learning tool for students and teachers.
This project, installed by SKY Engineering of Phoenix, represents Kyocera’s first PPA project that the company has developed in the United States. As part of a $14B global enterprise that has been profitable throughout its 54-year history, Kyocera Solar is leveraging its financial strength to develop and finance projects at attractive rates.
This new business model enables Kyocera to offer its high-quality modules and unmatched track record to PPA customers at very competitive rates.
Steve Hill, president of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Kyocera Solar, said, “This milestone with the Madison School District combines our commitments to supporting education, environmental responsibility and the betterment of humankind with our decades of expertise providing reliable, efficient solar energy solutions.”
The three systems will generate over 2.6 million kilowatt hours per year of renewable energy – enough to power more than 200 homes in Arizona for a year – and offsetting annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 382 cars from the road or carbon from more than 47,000 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.
Kyocera Solar’s new status as a project developer follows a precedent set by Kyocera’s operations in Japan, where the company owns and operates a 70MW solar installation in Kagoshima, and is in the process of building approximately 35 additional smaller-scale projects to provide an additional 60 to 70MW of cumulative renewable energy capacity.
Amid continuing strong demand for its high-quality solar modules, Kyocera plans to ship more than 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of solar modules worldwide in FY2014, an increase of 50 percent from FY2013.