SANTA MONICA—Grant, Franklin, McKinley, Muir/SMASH, Will Rogers, Roosevelt, Cabrillo, Pt. Dume and Webster elementary schools, located in Santa Monica and Malibu, are the nine schools that will be generating solar power early next year.
Since the agreement passed, the district could start saving $5 million on energy costs over the next 25 years. The solar systems will equalize almost 95 percent of the energy charges at campuses where the panels are planned on being installed.
According to a Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District report, 23,822 tons of greenhouse gases can be prevented by installing these new panels. The district has agreed to buy energy from Regeneration Finance, “an experienced financier, concentrating on the solar distribution of generated power space and focusing on the development and ownership of solar systems that supply electricity to schools and universities,” as stated on their website.
With the new plan in line, the district will buy energy from the company for $0.131 per kilowatt hour with a 4 percent escalator for 25 years.
