HERE COMES THE SUN—Planning is underway to install solar panels similar to these at Oak Park High School at the Las Virgenes campuses and at district HQ. JOHN LOESING/Acorn Newspapers
The Las Virgenes Unified School District will begin installing solar panels this summer on all of its campuses, following a similar move by the Oak Park Unified School District to switch to solar power in 2017.
Going solar is an environmentally sound decision that will translate into major savings for the school district, LVUSD officials said.
“(The solar program) will dramatically reduce our carbon footprint, take the district off the grid, save about $2 million a year, which will go back into student programs, and is in alignment with our values of protecting the environment,” Las Virgenes superintendent of schools Dan Stepenosky told The Acorn.
Assistant superintendent Ryan Gleason is heading the Las Virgenes solar project, and said in a statement that the move to ditch electricity in favor of solar power will “optimize benefits associated with existing legislation and further positions LVUSD as a regional leader in green energy adoption.
“With the impending net metering legislation, which will reduce wholesale power generation returns to the grid by $0.22 per kWh, LVUSD proactively took action to advance this project to take advantage of prior legislation that allowed for the full capture of net metering benefits,” Gleason said.
Net metering is when customers with an eligible renewable power source receive a credit for the surplus electricity they produce.
“It’s how utilities reimburse customers that install solar,” Stepenosky said.
Under new rules approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the amount Southern California Edison is required to pay for each kilowatt hour of electricity that is returned to the grid will be reduced by about 75%.
But consumers who applied for solar projects under the previous Edison net metering schedule were grandfathered in at a much higher buyback rate for their surplus electricity. This means that when LVUSD is producing peak electricity in the summer months and consuming very little because school is not in session, the district will receive about 30 cents per kilowatt hour versus 8 cents under the new, more punitive metering program. (Hence the 22-cent savings for LVUSD that Gleason referred to.)
“This is why solar installations have fallen off a cliff,” Stepenosky said.
“People have stopped installing. The power companies don’t want to give money back and they are worried about losing funds to maintain the grid. Seems like a money grab on their part.”
LVUSD’s move to go solar will also capitalize on tax rebate incentives under the nation’s Inflation Reduction Act, further helping the school district’s cause.
“This financial boost will not only enhance the district’s sustainability efforts but also expand its capacity to invest in essential educational programs on behalf of students and community,” Stepenosky said.
All 14 LVUSD schools and the district main office in Calabasas will be fitted with the solar panels, a project that is currently in the architectural design phase.
The $25-million job will span two years, with the first campus installation planned for this summer at Lupin Hill Elementary School in Calabasas.
The panels on all campuses will be freestanding, some located in the school parking lots, some in other areas.
“Solar will provide shade for either parking or play fields, given that the panels are not able to be installed on existing buildings with code restrictions in place,” the superintendent said.
Most importantly, the majority of the school district’s approximate $2.3 million a year electricity bill will be offset by the use of solar.
The district has partnered with Forefront Power, a San Francisco company, to oversee the design, procurement, and installation phases of the transformative project.
Ragini Aggarwal, a spokesperson for Oak Park Unified, said her school district moved quickly to install solar panels at all campuses following the passage of a school facilities bond in 2016.
The project was completed in one year, she said.
Las Virgenes solar is next.
“This is an exciting time of construction and growth for LVUSD,” Stepenosky said. “We remain grateful to the community for the passage of Measure S so that projects such as solar can bring us into the future.
“Projects like this create a win-win for the environment, but also the general fund, expanding our services for students.”
John Loesing contributed to this article.
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