Honeywell won the bid to outfit the Poway Unified School District in San Diego, CA with more solar power capabilities. The new solar hardware is expected to reduce the school district’s utility costs and offer a district-wide education tool to students.
Honeywell has announced that Poway Unified School District in San Diego, Calif. has awarded the company a solar project that is expected to save the district more than $1 million in energy costs over the next 20 years. Under the agreement, Honeywell will install solar arrays at four of the district’s schools and sell the electricity the panels produce to the district.
Honeywell will install the solar arrays on the roofs at Poway High School, Westview High School, Oak Valley Middle School and Chaparral Elementary School. The arrays are expected to generate a collective 578 kilowatts of power and more than 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually — enough energy to power 90 homes per year. They also will cut energy costs during peak consumption when utilities typically charge a premium.
In addition to reducing costs, the solar arrays are expected to provide an educational tool that faculty can use to teach students about energy conservation and alternative energy sources. Through a Web-based portal, teachers and students will be able to see the real-time electrical output from the solar technology and learn how the systems operate.
The new arrays will deliver substantial environmental benefits as well, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1.1 million pounds per year. According to figures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this is equivalent to removing more than 100 cars from the road or planting 400 acres of trees.
Honeywell expects that the school will start benefiting from the solar arrays by October of this year.