US firm Green Charge Networks said today its Green Charge energy storage system has been installed at 12 school campuses in Poway, in San Diego in the US, with cumulative capacity of 6.3MWh across the sites.
The Poway Unified School District has 37 schools, catering to 36,000 students of all ages. It is the third largest school district in the city. The Green Charge installations have come through Green Charge’s Power Efficiency Agreement (PEA), where Green Charge owns and operates the system, and invoices customers for a portion of their energy savings.
Green Charge said the district will save more than US$1.6 million over the term of the 10-year contract.
Green Charge chief executive Vic Shao said: “Poway is at the cutting edge of a new way of managing its energy costs. Energy storage allows Poway to reduce monthly electricity bills, help enhance the resiliency of the power grid and save money in the process.”
Poway Unified director of maintenance and facilities Chad Koster said: “Any time we can find a way to reduce our operating costs without impacting our students is extraordinary. Installing this energy storage system will allow Poway Unified to put these savings right back in to our schools.”
Green Charge was acquired by French multinational electric utility Engie in May, with Engie taking an 80% stake in the Silicon Valley firm. The deal was part of an Engie spending spree that also saw it invest around US$6 million in Advanced Microgrid Solutions, also in the US commercial and industrial energy sector.
Green Charge itself closed US$20 million of non-recourse project finance debt from Ares Capital in January, with a US$30 million accordion function, giving it the right to increase its line of credit.
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