by Shane Henson — December 10, 2012—SolarCity, a company working to make cleaner energy more affordable for businesses and individuals across the United States, has been contracted by the Woodland Joint Unified School District in California to install more than 3,900 solar panels at four district schools.
The district incurred no upfront costs for the project and is expected to save more than $70,000 in the systems’ first year of operation, and more than $910,000 over their lifetime, says SolarCity, which has worked with many other school districts seeking to reduce energy costs and operate more sustainably.
Photovoltaic arrays totaling 924 kilowatts will be installed at three elementary schools and one high school. The systems will allow the district to pay less for solar electricity over the course of its 20-year power purchase agreement than it currently pays for utility power. SolarCity says it will provide free installation, maintenance and ongoing monitoring of the systems.
Beyond cutting the district’s energy bills, the new solar arrays are expected to deliver substantial additional environmental benefits to the region, eliminating more than 49 million pounds of annual carbon dioxide emissions, which is the equivalent of planting more than 26,000 trees or taking more than 4,200 cars off the roads each year, says Solar City.
The solar installations will also provide students with firsthand demonstrations of how solar technology works, and of solar energy’s benefits. Students will have access to SolarCity’s Web-based PowerGuide Monitoring Service, which allows customers to track in real-time how much power their solar systems are generating and how much electricity their schools are using.
