On Tuesday, May 9, members of the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District administration, VCPUSD Board of Trustees, members of the community's law enforcement and fire department, as well as representatives from Helix Electric and ForeFront Power were on hand to celebrate the unveiling of new solar canopies and electric buses for the district.
The celebration was a culmination of two years of work and partnership to complete the project.
“When you surround yourself with high quality, hard working people who share your same vision, those nuggets continue to grow and eventually they are realized,” Superintendent Ron McCowan said at the event. “Today was one of those days where we were able to celebrate the addition of our four solar parking structures and our two new electric buses.
“These improvements are the result of over two years of very difficult and sometimes cumbersome work. Fortunately we had the support of our school board.”
VCPUSD partnered with ForeFront Power – a leading developer and asset manager of commercial and industrial-scale solar energy and battery storage projects – to develop a 1 megawatt solar energy portfolio which comprises solar parking canopies at four school sites in the District.
These brand new solar canopies provide valuable shade for students, parents, faculty, staff, and other visitors to campus, and they also serve as a visual reminder of our District’s commitment to a cleaner and brighter energy future for our community.
In all, the District will save an estimated $9.2 million on electricity costs over the life of this solar energy system.
“With no upfront cost to the district or taxpayers, over the course of this 20-year contract, the district will receive a low, fixed rate for electricity as well as budget certainty by avoiding utility rate increases for decades to come,” Superintendent Ron McCowan said during the celebration event. “ForeFront Power will continue to operate and maintain the system at no cost to the district.”
“Through its partnership with ForeFront Power, the District has access to a real-time performance monitoring platform, allowing us to create reports and visualize related environmental offsets and savings,” VCPUSD Chief Business Officer Jon Petersen said.
Each year, the 1 megawatt solar energy portfolio will generate 1,700,000 kilowatts of clean, renewable electricity for California’s electrical grid and will help the District avoid an estimated 1,300 tons of CO2 emissions per year.
“I would be remiss not to point out that adding these beautiful solar panels and two brand new electric buses to our fleet is a big step toward creating a cleaner environment for our students, staff, and employees that work with VCPUSD every day,” McCowan said. “It shows that we care about the health and wellbeing of our stakeholders and our community as a whole and that’s important to me, as a member of the community myself.”
The project will also create new opportunities for VCPUSD students.
“The partnership also includes customizable renewable energy curriculum support that enhances the existing energy, environment, and sustainability elements of Valley Center Pauma USD’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) education for students,” Petersen said.
The district also showed off one of the two electric buses now on the road in Valley Center, obtained through grants. The district will receive six more buses in total.
“I have to say thank you to the school board,” District Director of Transportation Cheri McGee said. “Without you guys approving the hard work that we do here in the district, we would not have been able to apply for and receive the money for these buses.”
McCowan reiterated his gratitude toward District administrators who made these projects possible.
“These panels and those buses are yet another symbol of the strength of our district team leadership here in Valley Center in procuring what I think is a fantastic deal from a financial perspective with an eye toward the long-term,” McCowan said.
