Pomona Unified approves interconnection agreement to reserve spot for 2.8 MW Diamond Ranch solar farm

The Pomona Unified School District Board of Education voted 4-1 on Jan. 20 to approve an interconnection agreement with Southern California Edison that preserves the district’s place in line for a proposed 2.8 megawatt DC ground‑mounted solar array on an 8‑acre site below Diamond Ranch High School.

The vote clears a near‑term contractual step that the district’s facilities staff said must be signed before the end of the month to keep the project’s interconnection slot. Fernando Mesa, assistant to the superintendent for Facilities Maintenance and Operations, told trustees the agreement is required to connect the array to the Heisman 12 kV circuit and that failing to sign would put the district at the back of the queue for limited interconnection capacity.

Why it matters: the board’s action preserves a project the district says could offset electricity costs across multiple campuses and reduce exposure to future rate increases from the utility. Mesa described the array as a ground‑mounted, south‑facing system of about 4,000 panels with an estimated DC capacity of 2.8 megawatts covering roughly 8 acres; the district would use a power purchase agreement (PPA) structure rather than buy and own the farm outright. "The interconnection…