Solar to Save School District $5.3 Million Over Next 20 Years
BARSTOW, Calif. — SolarCity® has announced a 1.5-megawatt (MW) solar power project that will bring renewable energy to eight Barstow Unified School District (BUSD) schools and facilities. The solar installations are expected to save the district $112,000 in their first year and roughly $5.3 million over the next 20 years, which is to directly benefit classroom instruction constrained by years of budget cuts.
Roughly three-fourths of BUSD’s students qualify for free or low-cost meals, and district budget reserves have been under strain due to a difficult economy and a high local unemployment rate. But the solar power systems will offset an average of 70 percent of each of the eight facilities’ electricity needs, bringing immediate and long-term savings on energy bills.