A South Bay The school district is installing dozens of solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations at its elementary and middle schools – and the ambitious energy project is apparently causing concern among quite a few residents.

It is an initiative that Cupertino Union School District Officials say this will help reduce the district’s carbon footprint and provide educational opportunities for students.

However, many residents of the schools complain that they have been kept in the dark about the details and are calling on the district to provide more information about the project and its impact on surrounding neighborhoods.

“I would have expected more information about what happened,” said Bharath Pattabiramanwho lives nearby Stocklmeir Elementary School in Sunnyvale: “It will have a significant impact on our neighborhood and our daily lives.”

In February Cupertino Union School District — which consists of 17 elementary schools and five middle schools in Cupertino, San Jose Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Saratoga and Los Altos — announced that it will partner with the energy company ENGIE North America to install 5.1 megawatts of photovoltaic systems – that’s about 20 to 30 acres of solar panels – at all of their schools. The project will also install 72 electric vehicle charging stations on several campuses, including four at Stocklmeir, and two backup generators at the district office and maintenance yard in Sunnyvale.

CUSD is not the first school district in the Bay Area to make this type of energy conversion. The Hayward Unified School District also worked with ENGINE to implement a similar project, which was completed in 2019. The solar panels were to cover 90% of the district’s energy needs and 65 million US dollars of energy savings that could benefit the district.

Discussions about using solar energy began at CUSD in 2019, when a facilities plan identified energy efficiency as a district-wide priority, according to a CUSD spokesperson Erin LindseyA public hearing for the ENGINE The project took place in November 2023.

“This project aligns with CUSD’s commitment to sustainability and creates valuable educational opportunities for our students,” Lindsey said. “Including hands-on STEM learning opportunities for students and teachers across the district.”

The project is funded by a 39 million US dollars tax-free rental agreement and approx. 8.5 million US dollars of federal funds. The district expects savings 36 million US dollars in energy costs in the coming years.

Construction began this summer, with much of the construction expected to be completed by October and the rest by 2025, according to Lindsey. However, community members still have questions about the logistics of the project.

Residents of Sunnyvale Sesh Rajwho also lives near Stocklmeir, said he learned of the plan recently when construction crews began installing solar panels at the school. Raj owns electric vehicles, but said elementary schools are surrounded by single-family homes, which is not a good place for charging stations.

“It’s a question of security,” said Raj. “How do you control the people who show up in this parking lot day and night?”

Lindsey said CUSD will decide who in the community will have access to the charging stations at a future board meeting.

Fremont Union High School Districta feeder school for CUSD students, already has 92 electric vehicle charging stations at its five high schools.

In response to community members’ concerns about the project, CUSD ENGINE And City of Sunnyvale Representatives will meet with neighbors next week.

“Something like this needs more explicit content,” said Pattabiraman. “The people who live in the immediate vicinity need to be informed and should agree to it.”

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