A portion of this system at Agua Caliente Elementary School

SOLON Corporation, one of the largest providers of turnkey solar power plants in the U.S., has announced it has completed construction of 1.15 megawatts of solar systems for the Tanque Verde Unified School District (TVUSD). This school district is spread over four campuses which include two elementary, one junior high, and one high school. The solar systems are a combination of shade structures and rooftop systems, with over 4,000 solar modules. SOLON is the full service system provider and will continue to maintain the systems that were made possible through a 25-year solar services agreement (SSA) between the Tanque Verde school district and MP2 Capital, a leading investor in the renewable energy industry. In addition, local utility provider Tucson Electric Power (TEP) will purchase all of the environmental attributes generated by the system in the form of renewable energy credits (RECs), contributing to TEP’s renewable energy goals and helping to reduce the overall cost of the system. The financing structure of this agreement means that the district was not required to many any upfront investment to receive clean electricity at an affordable rate for a period of 25 years. The total output of this project for the first year in service is estimated to be over two million kilowatt-hours. On top of this project, SOLON is also providing an education package to the school district, including classroom monitoring of the systems’ outputs, access to the performance and weather data, and a renewable energy curriculum for elementary, middle and high school levels designed by TEP. This project has brought together the trusted organizations SOLON, MP2, and TVUSD to not only give the school district a source of clean electricity, but also the education of environmental consciousness in its classrooms.

Source: Mercom Capital Group, llc News Release- SOLON and MP2 Capital Complete Construction of Multi-Campus Solar System for the Tanque Verde Unified School District

Danielle Murray from the San Francisco Department of Environment

A solar revolution is happening one community at a time across the United States.

The last session of the day on Monday in the Energy Access track at WREF 2012 brought together four examples of innovative community engagement programs. All of the programs had a strong educational component and supported the installation of more solar in their area.

Danielle Murray from the San Francisco Department of Environment, a recipient of a DOE Solar America Communities grant, discussed San Francisco’s experience with organizing group purchasing programs around schools and small to medium sized businesses. Aaron Godwin, founder of Kilowatts for Education Consortium, talked about this program’s projects working with kids in Ohio and beyond to educate them about energy. Kevin Bean, champion of Gallup Solar in New Mexico and the Seacoast Area Renewable Energy Initiative in New Hampshire, shared his experiences holding barn raising style community events, but to complete solar PV installations.

There were several elements of the models discussed that had been successful and held potential for scaling. The cost savings achieved through San Francisco’s bulk purchasing program and a new Pre-paid PPA financing option that came out of their work with schools were encouraging outcomes of that program. Kevin Beane’s work with Gallup Solar and the Seacoast Area Renewable Energy Initiative had already demonstrated its transferability through successful implementation in two diverse locations. He admitted it would not work everywhere, but was optimistic that it could be effective in many places across the country.

The Holy Grail continues to be community engagement programs that are effective and can be implemented in a variety of locations without having to reinvent the wheel with every change of context. A successful model that easily scales would be a powerful tool in communities where solar has not yet caught on.

All of April is Earth Month at ACC and on April 11th RESA is co-hosting Clean-EnergY Factor: Women in Clean Energy where students and others can meet successful women from the renewable energy field. Keep Saturday, April 21st in mind as well for an event called Alternative Transportation: the greener choices.