Stronghold Engineering was given an opportunity to provide power in 14 of Lake Elsinore Unified School District’s locations—10 schools and 4 administration buildings. At these locations, Stronghold successfully installed 67 solar carports over parking areas covering 225,932 square feet. The LEUSD Solar Carport project will positively impact the environment and the local community.
Solar energy from Stronghold’s recent West Riverside Landfill Location is offsetting energy gathered by the solar parking canopies in the 14 locations. Each site receives between 6-10% of the power collected by the landfill’s solar system. Energy from the landfill location is primarily offered to elementary schools that have less space dedicated to parking and consequently less space for solar carports. The landfill’s solar energy is divided as follows:
West Riverside Landfill Bill Credit Transfer Recipients:
- Tuscany Hills Elementary School – 10%
- Earl Warren Elementary School – 8%
- Ronald Reagan Elementary School – 8%
- William Collier Elementary School – 8%
- Withrow Elementary School – 7%
- Rice Canyon Elementary School – 7%
- Wildomar Elementary School – 2%
- Elsinore Middle School – 11%
- David Brown Middle School – 11%
- Luiseno School K-8 – 10%
- SoCal Online Academy – 4%
- Admin – 6%
- Admin – 4%
- Food Services Bldg B – 4%
By tying in the West Riverside site, an abundance of solar power is available to the Lake Elsinore Unified School District. The school district can pull energy from the landfill at a cheaper rate than building on their own property when ground space and the cost of solar carports vs solar panels are taken into consideration.
Savings are seen post-installation in monthly electrical costs for the district. The school district pays a lower rate for the electricity thanks to the solar power provided by both locations, saving a significant amount on their electrical bills.
During construction on the carports, food drives were held at many of the school sites, resulting in long lines of cars and potential obstruction to progress. Stronghold maintained strict traffic patterns through the construction sites to account for the high volume of activity in the area.
Due to the pandemic and subsequent school closures, there were no kids on the various school campuses and Stronghold was able to construct all of the arrays at one time. The Stronghold team completed the solar carport project on time and with zero safety incidents.
As a result of the high-quality work Stronghold completed for the schools, more projects in the Lake Elsinore School District are coming their way. To add on to the solar carports, Stronghold is looking into adding electric vehicle chargers underneath the canopies. They have been contracted to install two off-grid solar systems for Elsinore High School and Temescal High School. These solar microgrid projects entail solar panels charging a battery-operated split-system air conditioners for the parking attendant booths located at the entrance of the high schools.
After the successful LEUSD Solar Carport project, Stronghold looks forward to continuing to build a working relationship with the Lake Elsinore School District. For more information on this project and others like it, visit Stronghold’s project page.