Sierra College Launches Solar Initiative

It’s good to know that in the midst of bad news at Sierra College, there are still some exciting and positive initiatives going forward. I think it’s a testament to the dedication of our team there.

My colleague Nancy Palmer and I came back from a trustee conference about a year ago, armed with news of what some other college districts had been doing with solar power at their campuses. In addition, Placer County Supervisor Kirk Uhler had briefed us months earlier on some ideas he had generated in his role with a solar company.

All of this came together at our last board meeting when the board agreed to issue a request for proposal to build a solar system that would generate enough power to take around 20% of Rocklin Campus and 90% of Nevada County Campus off the grid, at zero cost to the district, and generating savings of $75,000 to $125,000 annually.

Here’s how it works:

• A private company enters into a contract with the college to build this solar installation (primarily on roofs, and new covered parking spaces across many of our parking lots) at their own cost.
• The private company goes out and brings on investors to put up the money to build the solar installation.
• Sierra College agrees to buy the power generated by the solar installation at a fair price, with strict limits on the annual increase that the college will have to pay (right now, the college is at the mercy of the power companies, with rates increasing between 6% and 15% some years).
• Through solar tax credits and arcane IRS rules, the private company pays a return out to investors over time.
• After about 30 years, the power purchase agreement expires. The college and the private company can either renew the agreement, or remove the solar installation from the college.

This is an exciting opportunity to cut costs at the college while maintaining our commitment to be good stewards of the planet we’ve been entrusted with. It’s been great to play a role in moving this project along while sitting on the Board Facilities and Planning Committee.

Now, we’re expecting a variety of private companies to step forward to compete for the right to build this project for the college. We look forward to the chance to work with them to save the college a lot of money while they make a profit for their work.

UPDATE: If any solar companies are reading this and would like to bid on the project, please e-mail jpelton@sierracollege.edu for a RFP packet. Thanks!