Redding-area school goes solar

Grant Elementary School in Shasta County began this school year with a new solar-generated electricity system that is expected to save the school $600,000 over the next 20 years, according to a Solar Power Partners press release.

Mill-Valley-based Solar Power Partners, Elk-Grove-based Spectrum Energy Development and the elementary school used a power purchase agreement, a type of contract that allows the system to be designed, built and implemented at no cost to the school. Under the 20-year contract, the school will be required to pay a pre-determined rate to use energy produced by the system.

The system is expected to produce 290,689 kilowatts of energy per hour during its first year in operation—the equivalent of removing 40 passenger vehicles from the road.

Grant Elementary is the fifth campus Spectrum Energy Development has outfitted with solar systems in the Redding area.