West Valley-Mission Community College District Commits to Solar Expansion Project with SunPower that Includes Battery Storage

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- West Valley-Mission Community College District (WVMCCD) recently selected SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) to deploy a fully integrated solar and storage project across its West Valley and Mission College campuses in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. SunPower® Helix® Carport systems installed will total 5.4 megawatts, allowing the District to offset approximately 75 percent of grid electricity use with solar energy. A Helix Storage system will be installed at each campus, totaling a combined 2 megawatts (3,800 kilowatt hours) and delivering significant demand charge savings to WVMCCD.

This SunPower solar initiative will be the second for WVMCCD. Since 2011, 2.2 megawatts of highly-customized SunPower solar carports operating at both West Valley and Mission Colleges have generated an estimated $860,000 in electricity savings each year to the District. In addition to renewable energy, the colleges are home to a total of five U.S. Green Building Council LEED certified buildings, and feature drought tolerant landscaping and bioswales across campuses.

"Our district has a long-standing commitment to creating environmentally responsible and highly sustainable campuses for students, faculty and staff," said Ed Maduli, Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services, West Valley-Mission Community College District. "Renewable energy from SunPower has proven to be a valuable investment and a critical component to reaching our goals, and we look forward to building on our efforts with storage which will allow us to avoid expensive utility demand charges for years to come."

Solar-and-storage system construction is planned to commence this fall, with completion expected in 2020. The project is funded through local Measure W which authorizes the District to issue bonds to finance facility and technology updates. The District will own its solar power system, with SunPower providing operations and maintenance, as well as a performance guarantee for 25 years.

"We congratulate West Valley-Mission Community College District for leading by example and taking control of energy costs with reliable solar and storage solutions from SunPower," said Nam Nguyen, SunPower executive vice president, commercial solar. "We look forward to helping the District maximize its new solar investment and increase demand charge savings with Helix Storage."

SunPower continues to leverage its market-leading solar-plus-storage experience, enabling customers like WVMCCD to save more on electricity bills. After a little over one year on the market, interest in Helix Storage remains high with pipeline exceeding 110 megawatts and attach rates of over 35 percent.