Santa Barbara Unified School District staff updated the Board of Trustees on solar construction underway across several school sites.
Construction of a solar array at the facilities lot of the District Office started a week ago. The structure will be completed in a week, and it will be completely wired in two weeks.
The District Office will be one of six sites with microgrids, which means each location will have battery storage. Assuming it’s sunny, the microgrids will be able to power those sites indefinitely.
These microgrids are at La Cuesta Continuation High School, Santa Barbara High School, San Marcos High School, Dos Pueblos High School, La Cumbre Junior High School, and the District Office. The systems will be operating by September or October.
Work is continuing on Solar Arrays at other school sites as well. Cleveland and Monroe Elementary will go through the inspection and tie-in process on February 17. Project managers chose the best day for the schools to minimize the disruption to students, faculty, and staff.
Roosevelt Elementary is expected to receive a permit to operate its solar array soon.
The solar arrays at Adams Elementary, Franklin Elementary, Goleta Valley Junior High School, La Colina Junior High School, and Santa Barbara Junior High School are currently up and running.
“I want to thank Desmond Ho, Jose Jimenez, Marina Verdian, and the facilities team at Santa Barbara Unified for their hard work and dedication to the Solar Array project. We are glad to see the progress on this work and look forward to completing it in the coming months,” said Dr. Hilda Maldonado, Superintendent.
Construction on the project began in 2021. Once completed, 14 solar arrays with six microgrids will have been installed throughout the district.
