Alternative Energy

All Categories

BY Tali Aaron : February 22

Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for public school system in California

The Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) Board of Education today approved a plan to enter into an agreement with SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic materials, and SPG Solar to establish energy-generating solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems at twenty-one sites throughout the district. It will be the largest solar deployment for a public school system in the state of California.

The clean, silent renewable energy systems will save the district $17 million in energy expenses over 20 years based on conservative estimates. Under the terms of the power purchase agreement, the Irvine Unified School District will incur no upfront capital costs. SunEdison will finance, build, operate and maintain the solar power systems, with IUSD purchasing energy with long-term predictable pricing.

This unique partnership will also make solar PV part of the district’s curriculum. Students will utilize Internet-based monitoring of the solar PV system to track solar energy production and consumption in real time. In addition, students will learn how solar panels work and how weather impacts energy production.

“We are excited about the opportunity to educate our students with a real world project that conserves both energy and money,” said IUSD Board of Education member Michael Parham. “This enables the district to ‘practice what we preach’ as we lower electricity costs by more than $17 million and reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 12,000 cars off the road each year – a win-win-win for our kids, pocketbooks and planet.”

“We thank SunEdison and SPG Solar for making this a reality,” Parham said. “It is a game-changer in IUSD’s ongoing campaign to conserve, recycle and explore new technologies in the pursuit of sustainability.”

The energy agreement approved today will:

- Generate more than 6.6 million kilowatt hours of solar energy in the first year based on the projected 21 sites.
- Generate more than 120 million kilowatt hours of solar energy over 20 years – enough energy to power more than 11,000 average homes for one year.
- Offset a projected 127 million pounds of carbon dioxide over 20 years – the equivalent of removing more than 12,000 cars from the road for one year, based on an average of 12,000 annual miles per vehicle.

According to SunEdison President and Executive VP for MEMC Carlos Domenech, “When you get chances in life to reduce the carbon footprint, reduce costs and help kids and a school district – it is pretty special. We are lucky there are school systems like Irvine that have this kind of vision.”

Recommended for Further Reading:

Posted in: Alternative Energy, Solar Energy
Tags: green building (297)   school (9)   photovoltaics (53)   Solar (614)   renewable energy (502)   Green (549)   clean energy (173)   sustainable (380)   solar PV (28)   PV (111)   วิเคราะห์แคนาเดียน โซลาร์ "canadian solar" (3)   
Last Modified: February 22, 2010 at 2:12 pm
First Published: December 9, 2009 at 10:54 am

12 Responses to Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for public school system in California

  2. buildaroo on December 14, 2011 at 11:17 am


    Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for... http://t.co/WBY7iPwi #eco #cleantech #greenbuilding #renewableenergy

    Reply
  3. Omar Masry on October 30, 2011 at 11:42 am


    Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for... http://t.co/WBY7iPwi #eco #cleantech #greenbuilding #renewableenergy

    Reply
  4. buildaroo on October 30, 2011 at 11:38 am


    Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for... http://t.co/WBY7iPwi #eco #cleantech #greenbuilding #renewableenergy

    Reply
  5. Solar Systems on September 2, 2011 at 7:52 pm


    I used to be suggested this website by my cousin. I'm no longer sure whether or not this publish is written through him as no one else realize such precise approximately my problem. You're wonderful! Thank you!

    Reply
  6. buildaroo on June 11, 2011 at 8:06 am


    Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for... http://bit.ly/4oeWR8 #eco #cleantech #greenbuilding #renewableenergy

    Reply
  7. buildaroo on February 17, 2011 at 10:01 pm


    Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for... http://bit.ly/4oeWR8 #eco #cleantech #greenbuilding #renewableenergy

    Reply
  8. Shahram Mehraban on November 21, 2010 at 12:53 am


    RT @cleangreenpro: Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for... http://bit.ly/4oeWR8 #eco #cleantech #greenbuilding ...

    Reply
  9. Roxolar Inc. on December 10, 2009 at 1:00 am


    Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for ... http://bit.ly/63FeEL

    Reply
  10. Theresa Stroisch on December 9, 2009 at 10:27 pm


    Silent renewable energy systems will save the district $17 million in energy expenses over 20 years. http://bit.ly/5PHjXE #renewableenergy

    Reply
  11. Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for … School on December 9, 2009 at 2:36 pm


    [...] More here: Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for … [...]

    Reply
  12. Twitted by buildaroo on December 9, 2009 at 1:56 pm


    [...] This post was Twitted by buildaroo [...]

    Reply
  13. Tweets that mention Irvine Unified School District to Install Largest Solar PV for public school system in California | buildaroo.com -- Topsy.com on December 9, 2009 at 1:54 pm


    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by buildaroo.com, buildaroo.com. buildaroo.com said: Irvine Unified School District to install largest Solar PV for Public School District http://bit.ly/4oeWR8 #renewableenergy #green #eco [...]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*