San Diego Community Colleges Go Solar Without Capital Investment

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 11/19/09

The San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) is going solar without having to make a capital investment. The district recently approved a 20-year agreement with Borrego Solar, a national solar power contractor based in San Diego suburb El Cajon, CA, to construct and maintain a photovoltaic system that will annually provide about 2.4 megawatts of green energy at six locations in the district, the equivalent of powering 650 homes per year. A comparably sized installation was built by Borrego Solar at the University of California, San Diego and finished in 2009.

The system will be financed through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) under which the District will access and use solar-generated energy, without the upfront capital costs or operational expenses. Under the agreement, Borrego Solar would build, operate, and maintain the solar system and sell the generated solar energy back to the district at rates estimated by the company at 18 percent below those of San Diego Gas & Electric, a savings of $110,000 annually. The solar energy generated by the district system would be enough to meet slightly more than a quarter of current peak electrical demand.

The photovoltaic program calls for the solar panels to be installed on building rooftops and parking structures and atop new solar panel shade structures on parking lots throughout the district.

"This is a win-win for the San Diego Community College District, and the community in general," said David Umstot, vice chancellor of facilities. "By taking advantage of modern solar technology and current renewable energy incentives, we are able to promote our environmental commitment by producing clean electricity on site, reducing our carbon footprint, and working to find solutions for meeting the growing energy demands within the San Diego community."

According to a statement from the partners, carbon dioxide emissions are expected to be reduced by about 56,000 tons.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • abstract illustration of a glowing AI-themed bar graph on a dark digital background with circuit patterns

    Stanford 2025 AI Index Reveals Surge in Adoption, Investment, and Global Impact as Trust and Regulation Lag Behind

    Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) has released its AI Index Report 2025, measuring AI's diverse impacts over the past year.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Launches Claude for Education

    Anthropic has announced a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

  • lightbulb

    Call for Speakers Now Open for Tech Tactics in Education: Overcoming Roadblocks to Innovation

    The annual virtual conference from the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal will return on September 25, 2025, with a focus on emerging trends in cybersecurity, data privacy, AI implementation, IT leadership, building resilience, and more.

  • From Fire TV to Signage Stick: University of Utah's Digital Signage Evolution

    Jake Sorensen, who oversees sponsorship and advertising and Student Media in Auxiliary Business Development at the University of Utah, has navigated the digital signage landscape for nearly 15 years. He was managing hundreds of devices on campus that were incompatible with digital signage requirements and needed a solution that was reliable and lowered labor costs. The Amazon Signage Stick, specifically engineered for digital signage applications, gave him the stability and design functionality the University of Utah needed, along with the assurance of long-term support.