In late September, the San Ramon School District was one of a number of districts chosen for eligibility in the Qualified School Construction Bond (QSCB) program, according to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, who said that 43 districts had been selected.
The program, which normally selects based on need, its value in the overall economy, and the potential to create jobs, this year opted for a lottery because the number of applicants exceeded funds.
The program offers selected schools a portion of the $11-billion yearly allotment, which is authorized by the federal government under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The biggest winners of California’s portion, $773,525,000, include Sierra Sands, Alum Rock Union Elementary, Corona-Norco, Antioch, Palm Springs, Modesto and Porterville.
The San Ramon District said in September that it planned to seek the full amount to install solar panels on about eight facilities, leading to a savings of $2.5 million per year for the first five years, according to Facilities Development Assistant Superintendent Margaret Brown, based on rebates from the California Solar Initiative, which under the Expected Performance Based Buydown, or EPBB, pays $3.50 per watt (for systems larger than 50 kilowatts for non-profit and government installations.
$1.1 million of that savings would be from electricity not purchased from regional utility Pacific Gas & Electric, or PG&E, and with between 14 and 17 years to repay the bond, project savings afterward, estimated at between $25 million and $35 million, could be fed directly back into the general operating fund.
More important, it frees the district, in part, from the volatility of energy prices over the lifetime of the system, about 25 years, and helps meet California’s renewable energy mandate, or Renewable Portfolio Standard, which stands at 33 percent (of energy from renewables) by 2020 – a mandate which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger first threatened to veto in September, then passed with a caveat that the sourcing must come from within the state. SB32 also calls for carbon emissions reductions, to 1990 levels by 2020.
San Ramon’s solar array would certainly fill both mandates nicely, and if the San Ramon School District Board of Trustees makes a final decision, as they must before the first of the year, the solar panels could be producing electricity by mid-summer, according to Brown. According to school board President Bill Clarkson, the trustees have so far voted unanimously to approve the project.
The number of panels, and kilowatt-hour output, haven’t been stated, but Brown says the array will supply about 30 percent of the district’s power. Nor have school officials specified which facilities would get the panels, which the district proposes installing in parking lots rather than on rooftops.