CHULA VISTA (KGTV) — The Chula Vista Elementary School District is going green.
Wednesday, educators and students unveiled a new solar project to save the district thousands of dollars.
CVESD has installed solar panel structures at 48 sites. The students at Castle Park Elementary had the honor of flipping the switch to solar for the entire district. The new shaded structure at the school sits in the middle of the playground.
The district announced that 46 campuses, the transportation yard, and the Education Service and Support Center all switched to solar Wednesday morning.
More than 18,000 panels were installed for this project providing 8.1 megawatts. The $32 million project was funded through a G.O. bond.
The district is also finalizing the installation of a micro-grid system that will be powered by solar and batteries. It will provide back up and emergency power to the district’s IT Department, additional servers, and the child nutrition freezer.
The micro-grid system will also provide electricity during peak hours of 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. when electricity rates are highest.
The district is expected to save $70 million in net electricity savings over the next 25 years.
