Published Dec. 9, 2009

A California school system has approved a plan to install solar photovoltaic arrays at 21 sites throughout the district, one of the largest public-school deployments of solar in the nation.

The board of education for the Irvine Unified School District, in Orange County south of Los Angeles, will enter into a power-purchase agreement for the project, which also involves the companies SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials, and SPG Solar, an installation company.

Under a power-purchase agreement, an increasingly common way of buying solar electricity, savings are expected to accrue over a long-term contract, in this case 20 years. The price of the electricity is locked in for the contract period. Irvine school officials expect to save at least $17 million in energy expenses over the 20-year contract.

Solar PV will become part of the school system's curriculum, district officials said in a news release. Students will be able to monitor the system's electricity production on the Internet as it occurs. They also will learn how solar photovoltaic systems work and how they are affected by weather.

"We are excited about the opportunity to educate our students with a real-world project that conserves both energy and money," said school board member Michael Parham. "This enables the district to 'practice what we preach' as we lower electricity costs by more than $17 million and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to taking 12,000 cars off the road each year — a win-win-win for our kids, pocketbooks and planet."

In San Diego, about 60 miles south of Irvine, the public school system has already installed solar PV modules on 28 school buildings. That district has prepared plans to place solar arrays on many additional schools.