Maddie Nerad
Staff Writer
At the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting on April 10, the Board continued discussing a comprehensive energy assessment by Chevron Energy Solutions Company regarding potential energy-saving projects at Costa.
According to officials, the energy assessment would take four to six months to complete. Chevron will present its findings to the Board, which will then decide which of the 10 projects it would like to carry out. If the district does not select any projects, it will be required to pay approximately $50,000 to Chevron as a research fee.
“We’ve already covered the cost of the study in the budget of any project [the district] moves forward with,” Chevron ES Senior Business Development Manager Ashu Jain said.
Jain introduced the potential projects at the March 6 Board meeting and returned on April 10 to address Board members’ questions and concerns.
One of the proposed projects is a solar parking shade structure in the Mira Costa student parking lot, in which solar panels, connected by poles, would hang over the parked cars.
“Our objective would be to have as little of the cost as possible as a district,” Deputy Superintendent Dr. Rick Bagley said.
The total cost of all of the projects is $6 million. It would take Costa 17 years to pay back the loan, according to Jain. The solar panels would be guaranteed to be functional for at least 25 years.
According to Jain, there has only been incremental improvement in solar panel technology in the past six to eight years, and the Board should make its financial decision based on what is available today.
“My biggest concern is that it’s 17 years before we pay it off,” Board member Penny Bordokas said. “Technology changes so fast, and 17 years is a long time.”
Depending on the outcome of Proposition 39, the Income Tax Increase for Multistate Businesses Initiative, which could offer a substantial amount of money to this project, the loan could be paid off faster.
“If Prop 39 allocates its funds based on shovel-ready projects, these energy-saving projects would qualify,” Bagley said.
Chevron has committed to pay the difference if savings do not completely offset the financial cost.
“We’re basically taking the inefficiencies out of the existing systems, capitalizing on that and funding the project,” Jain said.
Leave a Reply