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Board approves $22 million energy and facilities package including solar canopies, EV charging and HVAC upgrades
Summary
The Western Placer Unified School District Board approved contracts and a financing plan to install solar canopies at five schools, add EV charging (including bus charging), replace LED lighting districtwide and replace classroom HVAC units at 12 Bridges Middle School, using a 25-year certificate of participation to be repaid from guaranteed and projected energy and maintenance savings.
The Western Placer Unified School District Board approved a districtwide energy and facilities package intended to reduce utility costs and fund facility upgrades through energy savings and financing.
Audrey, a district staff member leading the project presentation, told trustees the package combines near-term facility needs and energy-generation work: replacement of 47 single-zone HVAC units in classrooms at 12 Bridges Middle School; solar canopy arrays and EV charging at five school parking lots; electric-bus charging and a DC fast charger at the transportation yard; and LED lighting replacements across the district.
Jeff Small of Capital Public Finance Group, the district—inancial advisor, described the planned financing and federal subsidy expectations: "It's about a $2,700,000 subsidy payment," he said, referring to the federal tax-credit subsidy the district expects to receive under current law. Board materials and staff placed the total project cost at about $22,000,000, allocated roughly as follows: $4,300,000 for the middle-school HVAC scope; about $11,000,000 for solar canopy installations at five schools; $1,800,000 for EV charging (schools and transportation yard); $1,900,000 for LED lighting retrofits; a roughly $1,000,000 contingency for the HVAC scope; and $2,000,000 for other capital improvements.
Jennifer Butler of SiteLogic, the project developer, told the board the solar arrays are expected to have industry-standard lifespans: "The solar panels have a 35 year lifespan," she said, and SiteLogic included operations and maintenance contracts and an optional solar O&M agreement that the board also approved.
District and vendor presenters described the repayment model: the board will approve a certificate of participation (COP) borrowing (up to $25,000,000) with a 25-year repayment schedule. Projected sources to repay the COP include energy savings (lower PG&E bills), avoided maintenance costs (particularly HVAC repairs), and the federal tax-credit/subsidy. Presenters and the board stressed the importance of a monitoring and verification program; the district will deploy an energy manager platform and ongoing performance monitoring to validate savings and spot billing issues.
Board members asked detailed technical and program questions: how the number of EV charging ports is determined (ports are required per kilowatt of installed solar generation), whether the district should aim for net-zero at each site (project team said net-zero is not cost-effective under current net metering and export rates), how O&M will be handled long-term, and whether on-site battery storage is included (vendors said no batteries are included in the base project; storage may be considered when affordable domestic production and incentives align).
Public commenters raised operational questions about construction impacts, replacement of aging HVAC units at other sites (a Sheridan teacher said her site units are aging), how parking and drop-off traffic will be managed during construction, and whether the annual O&M obligations will be closely overseen. The district assigned project manager Mike Adele to oversee construction and vendor coordination; vendors contractually include annual cleaning and inspection obligations in the solar O&M agreements.
The board approved the project resolutions and the set of contracts related to the scope: the master energy services agreements for solar and EV charging, the SiteLogic master agreement, the SiteLogic O&M agreement, and the district—nergy-management/software agreement. Staff said the project kickoff is scheduled for July, loan funds would be available August 1, LED work would begin in October, HVAC replacements at 12 Bridges Middle School would occur in summer 2026, and solar/EV canopy construction would begin summer 2026 with substantial completion by late 2026.
Trustees and staff said they want regular status reports and verification of realized savings; the district expects the project to be cash-neutral or better during the COP term and to yield pure savings after the debt is repaid.
