Brock Elliott and Joshua Cowell will be among the first California schools to have on-campus battery storage units such as those manufactured at the Tesla plant in Lathrop.
It’s because Measure A bond projects at the two schools that are now being reviewed by the State Architect must include solar and a battery storage system under recently adopted California green energy rules for public education facilities.
Both campuses will be getting new multipurpose rooms with solar energy panels.
The modernization effort will include new fire and paging systems, asphalt replacement, as well as renovations to their respective libraries and administrative offices.
Manteca Unified is also considering adding battery storage units to Manteca High, East Union High, and New Haven elementary school.
The Manteca High campus, regardless of whether the district opts to add solar and battery storage to construction projects now underway, will be required to include both when the two-story classroom structure planned along Sherman Avenue breaks ground in the next few years.
The district is in the process of securing the services of an energy consultant to identify ways of further reducing energy costs.
In addition to the audit, the consultant will be tasked with examining existing solar systems.
Included will be calculating whether additional solar — along with batteries — at the two high schools and New Haven pencils out financially.
The solar and battery storage mandate went into effect this year.
Some of the Measure G work that wasn’t subject to the new solar standards — such as the recently built large gym at Manteca High — were plumbed for solar by the district.
An analysis will determine whether solar power generation in conjunction with battery storage could effectively make various Manteca Unified sites less reliant on PG&E.
The goal is to lock in power generation costs to avoid being subjected to future PG&E rate hikes.
The impact of rising power
costs on educating students
PG&E costs borne by Manteca Unified soared by $1.4 million in the 2022-2023 school year or enough to cover the annual pay and benefits for 21.5 entry level teachers.
And it could have been worse.
The 2013 decision to go solar at 26 elementary schools and five high schools froze kilowatt usage at that time at $1.9 million annually.
That $1.9 million annual cost has been constant for the past 10 years.
And when that $1.9 million that is repaying the cost of borrowing to install solar is paid off in just over 10 years, it will free up that money.
Some of it will be plowed back into the micro invertor solar panel systems in place as they lose their effectiveness over time. The district intends to make upgrades on a staggered basis to keep those costs below $1.9 million each year.
The strategy eventually means MUSD will be paying even less for the amount of kilowatt hours they used in 2013.
But it is growth in kilowatt usage and PG&E rate hikes since 2013 that have sent the district’s PG&E bill soaring.
It was budgeted at $3.5 million for the start of the 2022-2023 school. That reflected anticipated increases.
But due to additional rate hikes granted to PG&E and increased usage to accommodate growth — both for electricity and natural gas, the district end up writing checks to PG&E totaling $4.9 million last school year.
That is a 40 percent increase. And based on $65,000 for salary, benefits and retirement contributions for an entry level teacher, that money is the equivalent of hiring 21.5 entry level teachers.
The district through March of 2023-2024 school year spent $5.4 million on PG&E. That reflects a 10 percent increase over last year.
A desire to prevent future PG&E increases from cutting into spending in the classrooms is what prompted the school board in March to authorize a request for proposals to perform a district wide energy audit.
In addition, state law now requires all new school projects — modernization or otherwise — after Jan. 1 to not simply be plumbed for solar but to have actual solar panels installed as well as storage batteries.
The law also requires wiring new parking lots for EV chargers although they are not required to be installed — at least not yet.
MUSD wants to be able to generate — and store — as much electricity as they can afford to do so to avoid relying as much as possible on PG&E to power transportation services.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
