San Diego cans SunEdison public projects

The cancellation was made despite SunEdison’s raising of $300 million to fulfill the contract, after it had filed bankruptcy. Sites for the projects would have included city services centers like schools, and police and fire stations, including car ports.

The plants would have been built in two phases, 25 in the first group, then up to 40 additional plants that would have been sited on public property. The first group of plants would have cut ratepayer bills by $22 million, the document says. The first 25 new plants would have generated some 6 megawatts per year.

Among planners involved in the plants was the School Project for Utility Rate Reduction (SPURR) Joint Powers Authority (JPA) of California Public Schools, which aggregates the purchasing power of its members and non-members. The Concord, CA-based group offered “simplified and independent expert advice, lower prices and minimized overall risk.”

SunEdison had been selected to build solar energy arrays for 250 member schools districts in California, through SPURR, the developer’s website reported in early 2015.

SunEdison is not likely to rest on its solar spurs. In June, the city was the first in California to reach its mandated cap on the amount of electricity utilities have to buy from customers. The California Public Utilities Commission set a five percent cap of the utility’s regional energy consumption.

Solar installer Sullivan Solar Power has been quoted estimating that solar power has become a $1 billion-a-year industry in San Diego.