Case Studies

Schools Go Solar: Spending Cuts Fuel Interest in Alt. Energy

Pioneer Elementary School – Brentwood, California

At the Pioneer Elementary School, unique light-weight and flexible UNI-SOLAR® photovoltaic laminates were applied directly to the school’s stainless steel metal roofing pans using a “peel and apply” adhesive.

Spending Cuts Fuel Interest In Alternative Energy The first of three new California schools using solar energy to power its classrooms was recently dedicated in the city of Brentwood, located in Contra Costa County. “With the state cutting school operational spending, the decision to use solar power made good business sense,” says Pam Currier, business manager for the Brentwood School District. “Electricity costs the district hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. We’ll save that much in the long-run with the UNI-SOLAR® system.”

Proprietary UNI-SOLAR® building integrated photovoltaic laminates are manufactured using United Solar Ovonic’s 30- megawatt production equipment, which produces nine miles of roll-to-roll sheets of photovoltaic material in three days on a machine the size of a football field. The high temperature and low light characteristics of these laminates result in more delivered energy to the building even on cloudy days.

“The UNI-SOLAR® technology is ideal for school applications,” says Barry Cinnamon, president of Akeena Solar, the contractor at Pioneer School. “The array can withstand dirt, rocks, and any kind of weather. It’s also easy to install on the metal flat panel roofing most schools have in place.”

The Pioneer Elementary School’s system is composed of 330 Uni-Solar modules installed on four buildings at the school, 15 SunnyBoy inverters and a web-based performance monitoring system.

“We installed a network of redundant SunnyBoy inverters to maximize overall system reliability. That way, temporary failure of one inverter would not significantly affect the overall performance of the system,” said Cinnamon.

The Brentwood School District, which recently received a $125,000 rebate from Pacific Gas & Electric for the system, will be a part of the PG&E solar schools program that teaches students about renewable and clean energy. The district will offset the other costs of the system with state money, local money, and developer’s fees.

Besides the advantages of providing an aesthetically pleasing, virtually indestructible, easily installed roof and solar solution, the UNI-SOLAR® system will produce up to 1,500,000 kW/hr over the life of the system to help offset the school district’s most expensive price periods, which will in turn substantially reduce their annual operating costs.

A second UNI-SOLAR® BIPV system will be installed at the Grant Avenue Elementary School now under construction in the district. A third system for a new 80 kW middle school is under bid.