Green Charge, a subsidiary of Engie, will install 1.6MWh of energy storage alongside solar at five schools in California’s Visalia Unified School District.
The project includes Green Charge's lithium-ion battery storage system GridSynergy as well as GridSynergy Software, which can analyse performance indicators such as cost savings from the system. Indeed, the school district is expected to save more than $1 million over the 10-year contract.
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Vic Shao, president and CEO at Green Charge, said: “What is significant for cash-strapped schools is that funds generated from energy storage can be made available almost as soon as the energy storage system is installed, thanks to California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).”
Rick Brown, president of advisory firm and project manager Terra Verde Renewable Partners, said: “Some K-12 school districts do not realize that deploying an energy storage system will save significant money. Savings generated from demand charge reduction are an indirect boon to education, since paying less for electricity leaves more in the operational budget.”
There have been several US schools of late benefitting from storage systems, including Jigar Shah’s Generate Capital taking on six solar-plus-storage projects in California. Energy-Storage.News interviewed Jigar Shah on the subject last month.
Back in February, Green Charge also said it would provide a 1MW/2MWh energy storage system to liberal arts college in California that could save the facility US$800,000 over its lifetime.
Green Charge is the top provider of storage systems to California schools with a portfolio of more than 100 schools.