SANTA CLARA, Calif.-- Mission and West Valley Colleges are slated to save $2 million annually by installing a fully-integrated solar and storage project on the Saratoga and Santa Clara campuses.
The company, San Jose-based Sun Power (NASDAQ: SPWR), has been selected to bring the project online increasing the total savings to 5.4 megawatts of power annually. It will allow the District to offset approximately 75 percent of its grid electricity use with solar energy.
The SunPower® Helix® Carport system will be installed on each campus, are slated to be completed in 2020 and total a combined 2 megawatts of energy savings. This is in addition to Sun Power's solar carports, which has saved the district an estimated $860,000 since 2011.
In addition to renewable energy, the colleges are home to a total of five U.S. Green Building Council LEED-certified buildings and feature drought-tolerant landscaping and bioswales across campuses.
“Our district has a long-standing commitment to creating environmentally responsible and highly sustainable campuses,” said Vice-Chancellor Ed Maduli. “Renewable energy has proven to be a valuable investment and a critical component to reaching our goals and we look forward to building on our efforts with storage which will allow us to avoid expensive utility demand charges in the future.”
The project is funded through Measure W which authorizes the District to issue bonds to help finance facility and technology updates. The District will own its solar power system with SunPower providing operations and maintenance.
The District has a Triple-A bond rating, the highest rating, for fiscal responsibility with taxpayer money.
“We congratulate the West Valley-Mission Community College District for leading by example and taking control of energy costs with reliable solar and storage solutions from SunPower,” said Nam Nguyen, SunPower executive vice president, commercial solar. “We look forward to helping the District maximize its new solar investment and increase demand charge savings.”
About West Valley-Mission Community College District
The West Valley-Mission Community College District is a two-college community college
District with colleges in Santa Clara (Mission College) and Saratoga (West Valley
College). It serves over 15,000 students each year. WVC was established in 1963 and
Mission followed in 1975.
About SunPower
As one of the world's most innovative and sustainable energy companies, SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR)
provides a diverse group of customers with complete solar solutions and services.
Residential customers, businesses, governments, schools, and utilities around the
globe rely on SunPower's more than 30 years of proven experience. From the first flip
of the switch, SunPower delivers maximum value and superb performance throughout the
long life of every solar system. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, SunPower has dedicated,
customer-focused employees in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South
America. For more information about how SunPower is changing the way our world is
powered, visit www.sunpower.com.