SunEdison, Inc. today announced that it has signed 20-year power-purchase agreements with six school districts across California. These agreements will see more than 9 megawatts of solar installed at 18 elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the state, and is expected to save taxpayers more than $30 million in energy costs over the next 20 years.
The six unified school districts getting new solar systems are Atascadero, Fairfax, Gilroy, Paso Robles, Templeton, and Tracy. The districts worked with California joint powers authority SPURR to arrange the solar power deals with SunEdison.
Each solar system will be installed on a parking canopy, a roof that sits above parked cars at the school. SunEdison intends to start construction during the first half of 2016, and aims to finish by the third quarter. The solar systems are expected to generate enough energy to offset more than 75 percent of the electricity used by the school buildings. That same amount of electricity is enough to power around 2,200 California homes a year. The systems will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 170 million pounds over the 20-year period.