Irvine Schools Going Solar-Powered

Irvine (myFOXla.com) - Irvine schools are going solar and it won't cost them a dime... sort of. They'll have the system installed and pay for solar energy used at a cost that's cheaper than conventional electricity.

Schools in Irvine will soon be seen in a whole new light.

21 of the school district's buildings will go solar by next fall... with rooftop panels generating 45 percent of their electrical needs with no startup costs.

Tom Rooney, Jr. / CEO, SPG Solar
They pay nothing up front and basically save money over the next 20 years. It's about 17 million savings over 20 years.

Tom Roney heads up SPG Solar, a Northern California firm that will do the installation.

The company also put together the financial plan that allows the school to pay for the solar energy generated at about 10 percent below what they're paying for power now.

Students will see the savings first-hand.

Tom Rooney, Jr. / CEO, SPG Solar
"We'll have a live feed down into the school in terms of how much energy is saved in real-time and the carbon effect."

Cal State Long Beach is already reaping the benefits of a similar solar power system that it purchased a few years ago.

Panels atop the engineering building provide an energy savings of 20 percent.

The benefit at the administration building is twice that.

At the electrical vehicle yard, the savings have ave gone through the roof.

Paul Wingco / Cal State Long Beach:
"At times we're able to produce more energy from the solar system... more than what we're using, so we're able to export that energy to other buildings on campus."

And that's the type of success that folks in Irvine are hoping for.