California school district seeking proposals for solar + storage projects

Sage Energy Consulting continues to work with the Temecula Valley Unified School District on sustainability initiatives and resiliency with the issuance of a request for proposals (RFP) for two new solar and storage microgrids. The RFP includes two schools in the district that will host these innovative projects, including the new K8 STEAM Academy in Winchester, California and the Rancho Elementary School in Temecula.

The microgrids are designed for three hours or more of backup to the schools, providing power to critical loads at each campus during a grid outage and avoiding the need for diesel generators. The RFP solicits bidders to construct the solar photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage microgrids at both schools, with the option of operating and maintaining the systems.

Sage Energy Consulting

“The Temecula School District has already seen the benefits of solar firsthand,” said Brent Johnson, principal at Sage. “In 2016, our team oversaw the development of solar and energy storage systems across 20 district sites, which are projected to save the school over $10 million over the lifetime of the project.”

Temecula Valley USD’s existing systems are 6 MW of solar across 20 district sites, as well as 1.3 MW of energy storage/demand management at 5 district sites. The project was procured and contracted under a power purchase agreement with Tesla, resulting in no capital or operational costs to the district and a level price on solar for 20 years. Sage performed the feasibility study for the project and helped secure $1.2 million in state solar benefits, then provided the owner’s representation for procurement, design, construction and commissioning.

The new projects include a roof-mounted solar + storage system microgrid at the new K8 STEAM ACADEMY in Winchester and a solar canopy + storage system microgrid at the Rancho Elementary School. Sage produced the microgrid design for the K8 STEAM site.

The deadline to submit a proposal is November 6, with a pre-qualification deadline of October 23. Qualified bidders will have completed three 200 kW or larger PV projects, and two battery energy storage projects of 200 kW or larger.

Temecula will select a contractor during the week of November 24, 2020, and targets contract approval by December 15, with a construction start date in March 2021, and project completion by August 2021. Additional details for submitting work can be found on the district website.

Additional questions related to this RFP can be directed to rfp@sagerenew.com

News item from Sage Energy Consulting

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Original Source: https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2020/10/california-school-district-seeking-project-proposals-for-solar-storage-projects/