SunEdison and Irvine Unified School District has completed three new solar installations at schools in Orange County, California.
The school district now provides power to 22 schools with SunEdison solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, eliminating an extra $5 million – $8 million in energy costs over the next 20 years.
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These omitted costs will enable the school district to provide additional educational resources for students now and in future.
Company is anticipating $5 million to $8 million on avoided energy costs over the next 20 years by working with SunEdison, said, Mark Sontag, director, math, science, and career technical education, Irvine Unified School District.
This was achieved with zero up-front costs, and zero maintenance costs through a PPA with SunEdison, added Sontag.
That additional income will provide more resources for teachers and students. As the largest solar powered school district in Orange County with over 5.4 megawatts installed, this is an opportunity to educate the children on the benefits solar energy can bring to the community, he said.
The Irvine Unified School District is a wonderful success story and a role model for other school districts, said, Sam Youneszadeh, managing director, west coast distributed generation, SunEdison.
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They’re inspiring and many more schools are able to follow their lead and invest more on education by reducing their energy bill, added Youneszadeh.
Over the next 8 years, the Irvine Unified School District will be building new schools to accommodate around 1,200 new students a year.
The school district is working with SunEdison and their architects to incorporate solar into the design of all new schools and its financing partners, including TerraForm Power will be the owner-operators of the systems.