The Baldwin Park Unified School District, which serves about 1,800 students from kindergarten through 12th grade, recently had solar panel systems installed at seven campuses and the district office. The $15 million project was funded by low-interest Qualified School Construction Bonds the district received from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; that cost will be offset in part by $5 million in performance-based incentive rebates the district will receive from Southern California Edison over the next 25 years.

The timing of the stimulus money could not have been better for the district, which had explored going solar only to learn that it would have to enter into a lease-buyback arrangement that included a 25-year commitment, BPUSD Superintendent Mark Skvarna said. Thanks to the ARRA funds, the district will own the equipment outright in about seven years, he said.

“There’s not a down side to the whole thing at all,” Skvarna said. “All of the materials are American made, all of the contractors here — I’d say about 90 percent of them are union, it’s a prevailing wage project, and it’s just an awful lot people here working who wouldn’t be working.”

The project was jointly developed by Solar Power, Inc. and Pacific Edison, LLC, and Construction Planning & Management, LLC oversaw construction. The project utilizes SPI’s photovoltaic Peaq solar shade structures, which, in addition to providing covered parking, introduce an element of safety because they emit energy-efficient LED light during nighttime hours. The panels were installed at the district office, five elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. A committee chose the sites that would receive the solar panels based on their location and exposure to sunlight.

During the first year of operation, the system is expected to generate more than 3.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity. Skvarna said that by generating electricity on site, the district should save about $22.6 million in energy costs over the next 25 years, thus negating about 70 percent of its utility bill. He added that the district also entered into a 15-year lock-in rate agreement with Southern California Edison that will cap increases well below the typical escalation rate of 5 to 15 percent. The district will sell unused energy back to Edison; during the summer when school is out and many buildings are not being used, that could be enough to power more than 600 homes, he said.

The fact that going solar provided an educational opportunity for the students was not lost on the district, either. Every school office in the district has been equipped with a flat-screen television that shows real-time energy production using SPI’s Solar PowerView monitoring system. District officials anticipate incorporating the project into the curriculum.

“I couldn’t be more pleased for our community, for our students,” said  Christine Dennis, assistant superintendent of student achievement for the BPUSD. “I think this is a great opportunity to have them see that they have a district that really is proactive in green energy, green environment.”

Pacific Edison CEO Dion Camp-Sanders said the district would see a number of benefits.

“I think it’s a great project for the school district,” he said. “Not only are they going green and reducing the school’s carbon footprint, but they are locking in energy-cost savings for the school over the long term. They are also creating educational opportunities for the students to learn about renewable energy, so there are a lot of pluses to the project.”

At a ceremony held to celebrate the completion of the first phase of the project, school board President Christina Lucero applauded Skvarna for being out in front on the issue.

“Superintendent Skvarna really had the foresight to see that it isn’t just about education, it’s about the mark we leave in the world, and as far as being green, the less of a mark we leave the better,” she said. “What I love about our school board is not only do we want to make sure that our kids have a great education, we want to make sure they have a clean world.”

City officials are also excited about the project.

“This is fantastic, and to me, this is the future, as opposed to nuclear power plants, and I think that we need to invest,” said Baldwin Park Mayor Manuel Lozano. “I remember when I was a kid, back in the ’70s, solar panels — that was in. And the fact that this is not new technology — it’s old technology — I think it’s been revitalized by the simple fact that we have to face that we’re not always going to have oil and all of these different types of fuel that we depend upon. So I’m really excited, enthusiastic, and so are the residents.”

Skvarna said he encouraged other superintendents to pursue the money — the district actually received $25 million, and has five years to use the remainder — but they were hesitant to act.

“My dad used to say, ‘Fortune favors the bold,’ ” he said. “If you don’t get out there and give it a shot, you aren’t going to get anything.”