California Water District To Save $9.5 Million With SunEdison Solar PPA

SunEdison has announced it has signed a PPA with a Californian water district to install solar which will save the district $9.5 million on energy costs.

SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable energy developer, announced this week that it has signed a solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Stockton East Water District in Northern California.

The PPA will see SunEdison install 2.2 MW of “high-performance” SunEdison solar panels atop the water districts property which is expected to save the district more than $9.5 million in energy costs over the next 20 years, as well as 20 million gallons of water each year. SunEdison will install, own, and operate the solar project, while the water district will buy solar electricity at a lower rate than offered by the local utility.

“A SunEdison solar system is a fast and effective way for organizations to reduce their energy costs,” said Sam Youneszadeh, SunEdison’s regional general manager of its Western US solar business. “And it’s a great way to save water too – on average it takes more than four gallons of water to generate each kilowatt-hour of electricity in California. By going solar, we’re able to reduce water use by 99 percent, saving approximately 20 million gallons of water each year. SunEdison has installed solar at more than 1,000 locations in the US, saving more than 20 billion gallons of water in the process.”

“With no upfront costs and savings starting from day one, we couldn’t be happier with SunEdison,” added Scot Moody, Stockton East Water District’s general manager. “We’re expecting to save more than $9.5 million with this project. This is a great example of how we’re looking at new initiatives to save money and be good stewards of the environment.”

The Stockton East project is expected to generate enough electricity to offset approximately half of the electricity used by the Water District facility, and is the equivalent electricity needed to power 650 Californian homes. The project is planned to be operational sometime in 2016.