Chula Vista Elementary School District hired EcoMotion in February 2019 to provide a comprehensive solar and storage feasibility study for each of its 47 campuses and facilities. EcoMotion reported to CVESD’s board that the 8.1 MW project would save $66 – 88 million depending on how it was financed. In March 2020, the District was awarded bonding authority for the project, allowing for 100% solar at every campus and with no money down enabling over $80 million in savings over a 25-year period. The project also involves a solar-powered microgrid at the District Office to back up critical communications and IT systems.

To frame up the project, EcoMotion completed analysis of interval bill data, SDG&E rate structures and time-of-use periods, as well as spatial and financial analysis of all sites. With Board enthusiasm, EcoMotion spearheaded the effort to develop an RFP, to identify suitable firms for installation, and managed the procurement process. In the midst of a pandemic, EcoMotion facilitated a virtual proposers conference for the solar project. With thirteen firms in attendance, EcoMotion showcased all 49 campuses. All systems are now built and interconnected. Currently, EcoMotion tracks system performance through Engie’s Utility Vision system to assure each array’s operation and to measure each system’s performance.

In 2022, EcoMotion supported facilities officials at the Fremont Unified School District in its evaluation of two proposals for solar and storage. The proposals were each strong; one presented by Tesla and the other by Forefront. The analysis considered solar and storage at each of the District’s campuses. EcoMotion’s work culminated in a Board presentation with an objective review of the District’s options as well as EcoMotion’s recommendations.

For Huntington Beach City School District, EcoMotion performed a full solar forensic analysis of two sets of aging solar arrays there. The new facilities director wanted a complete review of their operations and value to the District, and to know whether costly maintenance was warranted. The systems were installed in 2010 by Chevron at a cost of $7.28 million, and in 2011 at a cost of $7.5 million. EcoMotion examined the solar systems on each campus in detail, taking note of conditions and identifying broken panels in the process. 

This site evaluation was then coupled with detailed evaluation of the monitoring system and the solar arrays’ performance. EcoMotion was able to easily tell which arrays were the best and worst performers. The financial analysis revealed how the Edison rates have actually escalated, and how the performance guarantees had been met, largely by banking early solar production prior to the contract effective date. EcoMotion provided detailed financials and recommendations to the District.

Mountain View School District had been through a failed solar process the year before, and called EcoMotion to resuscitate the District’s desire for solar. EcoMotion was hired to serve as the District’s owners representative and began with a thorough, impartial feasibility analysis. With Board approval, this led to a procurement process for the ten-campus project. EcoMotion is currently providing project oversight and quality control, working on behalf of the District with Luminace on installation, complicated by trees, easements, and tight summer schedules on several campuses. 

For Orange Unified School District, EcoMotion twice served as subject matter expert in procurement processes for solar power, the first for 13 campuses in 2018, and the second for 10 campuses in 2020. EcoMotion worked with OUSD officials to determine the locations for solar, followed by independent financial analysis of the value of solar at each site. EcoMotion crafted Requests for Proposals and helped the District evaluate proposers, and contract with them.

The Fall 2020 solicitation featured a successful Virtual Solar System Job Walk. EcoMotion’s two-hour, online job walk presented the District’s specifications for each site, proposed array and meter locations, and construction coordination details. EcoMotion presented aerial and photographic images, reinforced with a Google Drive complete with comprehensive site plans, utility interval data, etc. In each case, Ameresco was selected to finance, build, own, and operate on behalf of the District and through a power purchase agreement.

EcoMotion has also provided performance monitoring and verification services of its two sets of solar arrays for OUSD. Once the first set of campuses were outfitted with solar, EcoMotion analyzed the performance of these eight solar systems. This was Board direction: Before moving forward with solar on another 12 sites, the Board wanted to be sure of system performance and that all schools have been properly migrated to the correct utility rate. With access to billing data, EcoMotion assessed each site and flagged discrepancies in performance and rate structures.

For the Park Century School, EcoMotion serves as a solar and storage advisor. The school has been adding a multipurpose facility, sandwiched in a pizza pie shape between two facilities, one of its own. The design includes subterranean parking – with stacked cars tied to EV chargers, outdoor areas and multipurpose rooms. A large solar awning was envisioned by John Berry Architects. EcoMotion worked with John Berry and his associates advising on solar configurations and technologies. We examined several architectural glass products. Later our team calculated the solar performance of different designs. The storage analysis was tricky given space constraints and the option of night-time charging for the community.

In December 2022, EcoMotion received a call from Rescue Union School District officials about the prospect of helping the District go solar in time to maintain the benefits of Net Energy Metering 2. By April 14, 2023, the District would have to be comfortable with the feasibility of going solar using a power purchase agreement (PPA). It would have to have gone through a competitive solicitation to select a contractor, have a contract finalized, and have the contractor finalize each campus’s design to submit before the deadline. Many pieces had to align, and did. EcoMotion managed the process and met the deadline.

EcoMotion was hired by the Warner Unified School District to represent its interests in a “deposit lease” structure being offered for a solar system on campus. It was an intriguing deal involving a benefactor as well as tax equity partners and discounted power for the school. For legal reasons, the District rejected the no-money-down financial model. Ultimately, EcoMotion convinced the benefactor to use EcoMotion’s Benefactor Investment Model, actually forming a new variant, BIM-R… the R standing for revolving. By forming an LLC, and monetizing tax credits and depreciation benefits, the benefactor was able to drive down the cost of solar and then provide deeply discounted power to the school through a power purchase agreement. The PPA revenues to the benefactor then revolve into the next project.

EcoMotion is currently working for the Santa Rita Union School District located in Salinas, California. Salinas, with a population of 150,000, is in the heart of agricultural Monterey County, known as “the Salad Bowl of the World.” Our work for the six-campus SRUSD involved two activities: First, we’ve been asked to explore the use of battery storage systems for emergency back-up. The District has placed a high priority on six-hour storage to be able to keep students safely at school in the event of a power outage. The second task has been to examine the value of solar to the District. Our team analyzed bills for each campus and the District office (as well as adjacent Monterey County offices), conducted thorough site assessments, calculated emergency back-up requirements, and then evaluated energy and dollar savings opportunities for solar systems combined with rate switches. With Board approval, EcoMotion crafted and released a Request for Proposals for the District seeking emergency back-up (be it batteries or other forms of backup, including traditional generators) and an aggregate of 1 MW of solar. Bidders proposed one or both service options.

For the past six months, and as part of its Prop 39 work, EcoMotion has been working with the Santa Rosa Academy to develop a solar project, first exploring the school’s options, and then focusing in on the school’s direction and the rooftop of its new gym. EcoMotion coordinated this solicitation with the school’s architect and builder, crafting a request for proposals, managing job walk and bidders’ questions, and making a recommendation to the school on a select contractor.

In 2015, EcoMotion was hired by University of Southern California to assess its solar opportunities in student housing. EcoMotion’s solar team evaluated all sites for solar, measuring rooftops, conducting shading analysis, and noting roof conditions. These perspectives and data sets were then married with financial analysis, verifying rate structures and thus the value of solar on each facility.

EcoMotion is currently working for the Garden Grove Unified School District as its Proposition 39 manager, and in this capacity has introduced and advocated solar on campuses. Given Southern California Edison’s rate options, the District could save money and lots of it. EcoMotion’s solar team analyzed every school campus for solar, as well as the district office and its maintenance facilities, and found that in every case solar would save money for GGUSD while teaching students about taking climate action, and providing teachers and others with shaded parking. EcoMotion has made numerous presentations on the solar potentials, supported an RFP process that was scuttled, and continues to support solar as the District looks at bonding options for select campuses.

EcoMotion is currently working for the Poway Unified School District as its Proposition 39 manager, and in this capacity has supported the District in its review of solar on campus. The District has four systems in place already, and we evaluated these contracsts and the systems’ performances. We ran simulations of the value of solar on a number of high-using campuses, and found attractive economics. We reviewed and commented on the District’s desired power purchase agreement for limited solar on a number of its modulars. One contract review by EcoMotion seemed quite successful in lowering the PPA rate.

EcoMotion has served as Millbrook School’s carbon neutrality advisor, developing a plan to cut emissions to zero over time. The first phase resulted in the completion of a 1.735 MW solar system that now powers the School’s entire annual electricity use. After winning a $1.25 million incentive from the State of New York, EcoMotion helped the school secure a fixed 7.5 cent per kilowatt-hour price for the solar, with a zero percent escalator for 20 years, and Millbrook retains and can retire the RECs.

EcoMotion’s role in the process was sequential. We began fielding a call from a passionate faculty member. She’d received several cold call quotes for solar, and wanted help. But back up, school leadership would have to be brought on board. After several presentations, EcoMotion was brought on board by the school to represent it in solar exploration, and if favorable, its negotiation.

EcoMotion developed and released an RFP to qualified solar installation firms seeking cash and PPA pricing. We developed the Benefactor Investment Model assuming that we would need “friendly” capital to finance the system given that region of New York’s very low power rates. And then, after receiving a NYSERDA grant for $1.25 million, we were able to get the highly favorable PPA rate.

EcoMotion continued to serve as project manager throughout the construction period, addressing concerns and ongoing issues. There was a glitch: The interconnection study determine that there was a low power factor already in that part of the distribution network, and that we would not be able to interconnect without $580,000 dollars of cost. We’d allocated $250,000, hoping it would be much lower. Ultimately we were able to decrease the power factor on the solar system – resulting in 5% less kWh output – and to thus interconnect at a cost under the original placeholder. The eight-acre system is now operating as planned, providing 100% of the School’s power.

From 2013 through 2015, EcoMotion had the great privilege to partner with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and to serve as a solar advisor to its members. In 2016, and absent a formal contract renewal with AASHE, EcoMotion elected to continue to serve all AASHE members with the same service. Since then our solar team has had the great opportunity to work with solar advocates on campuses across the country. Our solar provides up to 10 hours of no-cost initial project consultation for AASHE’s campus 890+ members. “Just give us a call!”

Working as consultants through Solar Santa Monica, EcoMotion successfully negotiated a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between a financier, solar contractor, and the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District. The 745 kW AC deal, providing for systems on nine schools, had been log-jammed until EcoMotion’s analysis and advocacy clarified and amended the originally proposed terms.

With over 2,000 campuses, LAUSD is the largest school district in California. In 2010 it was authorized with bonding authority for solar systems on LAUSD schools. EcoMotion joined an “all-star” solar team to prepare a pragmatic solar strategy that included a screening system for site selection. This involved roof age, material and condition; interconnection requirements; bill offset based on a myriad of rate structures; shade and wind analysis; and balancing technical opportunities with impacting young students and their families with positive renewable energy messages. EcoMotion reviewed dozens of sites for the District, paving the way for 10 solar systems on LAUSD campuses.

EcoMotion has a six-year history working with Santa Monica College (SMC) in Santa Monica, California. We continue to serve on the colleges renewable energy committee. Our solar team analyzed the entire campus for its solar potential, and was instrumental in developing and continuing to refine the College’s solar strategy.

EcoMotion’s SMC solar scoping study detailed a 16-rooftop solar potential, complete with financial analysis. Meshing strategically with campus facilities improvements, EcoMotion identified a 1.2 MW potential. The College began the first phase of construction in 2009 and in the Fall of 2010 completed two systems mounted on parking lots, for a total of 408 kilowatts DC. The deal was enables by Chevron Energy Services, financing that combined energy efficiency with solar.

The College has made plans to expand its solar capacity with another 515 kW to be spread across four different buildings. EcoMotion supports the college in a number of ways – keeping facilities officials up to date on incentives and regulatory changes, and connecting certified contractors with College officials, and serving on an advisory board. Concurrently, EcoMotion advised the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District on an eight-school solar installation enabled by a power purchase agreement that provided 100% financing to the district.

The site is the Boys and Girls Club of Pomona Valley, and it’s Earth Day. There’s a special celebration for the new 5 kW solar system on its roof. University of Phoenix hired EcoMotion to design the initiative, locate suitable sites, and work with the select site through installation and commissioning. EcoMotion managed the process of selecting the recipient, the right roof and the right contractor for the job.

The select recipient was Pomona Valley. The University of Phoenix then donated the money for the system, managed by EcoMotion. Victor Caceres, Executive Director of the Pomona Valley Club, served as Master of Ceremonies of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, noting that the demonstration project will help educate future generations about their role in sustaining our natural resources, and that the club will benefit from monthly utility-bill savings for the next 25 years.

For Life Pacific College in San Dimas, California, EcoMotion provided a third-party analysis of the solar potential of a “perfect roof” on the new campus gymnasium. Despite the positive solar production potential, EcoMotion ultimately advised against the project based on the client’s utility rate structure and the College’s economic parameters.

For the past eight years, EcoMotion has served as a solar consultant for Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the transit agency in LA that operates the trains and the buses. “Metro,” the local transportation agency, has more than 2,000 parcels of land in the greater Los Angeles area that we’ve scoured for solar. Our team has guided Metro to its best solar opportunities given rate offsets, rooftops, development plans, and unique considerations.

Over the years, our roles have been many and varied, from analyzing best sites for solar and supporting procurement of additional solar, to providing technical training classes on photovoltaic (PV) safety and maintenance procedures. For years, EcoMotion has been on point in the ongoing performance monitoring and maintenance of Metro’s solar systems, troubleshooting and maintaining production.

EcoMotion has worked for the City of Santa Monica since 2007, helping to make it one of the greenest cities in the country. EcoMotion developed and has managed the Solar Santa Monica program, a program that helps residents, businesses, schools, the college, and the City itself go solar. Since its beginning, Solar Santa Monica has helped increase installed solar capacity by a factor of twelve, with capacity installed rising from only 476 kW of capacity to now well over 10 MW.

EcoMotion’s solar financial and spatial analysis for Santa Monica solar sites now includes pairing solar with storage and EV charging. Over the years, EcoMotion has provided a breadth of services to the City — from household audits for solar and efficiency, to crafting stage legislation for a feed-in tariff, to providing testimony at the California Public Utilities Commission, and beating a steady drum advocating solar in the City. At this time, any resident or business in the City can call Solar Santa Monica for technical assistance and financial analysis provided by EcoMotion.

TRC Solutions, in partnership with EcoMotion, was one of four firms qualified by the Port of Long Beach to serve its consulting needs regarding energy management. EcoMotion serves as the solar consultant in the project, and one of our first works was to estimate the solar potential on site using different technologies and financial arrangements. This potentials analysis was part of a broader renewable energy analysis compiled by TRC experts.

The City of Beverly Hills hired EcoMotion to provide solar consulting services in a very specific scope of work. Our first task was to evaluate the operations and efficacy of the Beverly Hills Civic Center solar system. Next we evaluated all other municipal facilities for their solar potential. Both tasks were completed and reported to City officials. We found a solar system operating sub-optimally, and got it fixed. We found only marginally viable solar deals at many parking structures. An interesting next step will be to evaluate if the City can spur solar on homes and businesses. If so, the City’s original plan of bundling City-facility solar (perhaps on a half dozen sites or more) with home and business-owners’ installations may be viable.

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, incoming Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors at the time, was searching for a demonstration of the City’s commitment to greening and to justify its honor as America’s cleanest city. Working for EcoMedia, EcoMotion recommended unique solar structures – able to withstand hurricane winds – to be ground-mounted at the historic Miami City Hall. EcoMotion found a local company able to manufacture, assemble and install them. Thanks to capable partners at the City and contracting firms, the project was also done in record time – from City Council approval to camera crews at the ribbon cutting in less than three weeks.

In addition to solar, EcoMotion recommended storm-water management, efficient plumbing fixtures, and a complete lighting retrofit including demonstration T-5 lighting. Despite structural and architectural challenges at the historic Miami City Hall – it had formerly been a Pan Am Airlines airship terminal — the project was completed on time and on budget and received significant publicity.

The Miami City Hall demonstration was sponsored by EcoMedia, an environmental marketing company now owned by CBS. EcoMotion provided strategic direction and guided high profile, simultaneous projects in Florida and California to demonstrate “clean tech” solutions through public-private partnerships.

EcoMotion and Solar Energy International joined forces in 2008 and at the height of the Spanish feed-in tariffs for solar, EcoMotion arranged a tour for municipal leaders from California to visit Spain and to learn from leading policy makers, business leaders, and academicians while visiting research facilities and cutting-edge solar sites. With the highest solar insolation levels in all of Europe, and high feed-in tariff incentives, Spain surged in 2008 to the number two position in the world in solar installations after Germany.

The Spain 2008 Solar Research Tour started in Madrid then continued over the course of a week to Seville and Alicante to end in Barcelona. Following EcoMotion tradition, the group travelled by train and public transportation. Days were full, with different guided tours, presentations by leading professional industry groups and researchers.

In October 2007, EcoMotion led a tour of city officials to Germany to study its remarkable Feed-in Tariff. Begun in 2004, in three years Germany became the leading nation in the world for solar deployment. The tour began in Berlin where we met government officials, then toured the Conergy photovoltaic plant on the Polish border, before heading to Munich, Stuttgart, and Freiberg. Participants travelled by train and visited the world’s leading laboratories – including the Fraunhofer Institute — and solar installations, including the world’s largest PV plant at the time, owned by the Juwi Group.

For the City of Anaheim’s electric utility – Anaheim Public Utilities – EcoMotion managed the selection of elementary school sites and the installation of eight, 1 kW AC “Solar Flags” as a demonstration project. At each site, EcoMotion organized “solar rallies” that involved the entire school, performances, songs, and celebration. Just as the American flag reminds us each and every day of our great country, the Solar Flags bring renewable energy onto the campus as an everyday reminder for students and teachers of the power of the sun, and the promise of a truly sustainable society. EcoMotion program enhancements include website monitoring and ongoing teacher training.

And imagine the leverage of such a program! EcoMotion engaged Rahus Institute and developed a simple solar curriculum to accompany the Flags. “Have you had a solar conversation with your parents?” “Got a good, sunny roof?” Students go home and check it out with their parents. “Got a power bill?” While the Solar Flags on eight Anaheim campuses are small in terms of solar generating capacity, their message is profound as it extended into the community.

For New York environmental marketing company, EcoMedia, EcoMotion served as project designer and manager for a high-visibility demonstration solar project in Long Beach, California. Erected over a three-week period, and under challenging, nighttime construction conditions, the Long Beach Airport “Solar Alley” consists of six, 1 kW AC pole-mounted dual-axis trackers ranged near the baggage pick-up. They operate like water ballet… shifting positions in timed concert by degrees throughout the day. Every month, thousands of arriving passengers are greeted by the solar systems and their accompanying signage. The use of Sanyo semi-translucent, bifacial panels provides clear images of the panels as they harvest photons for the airport. Recently, the airport added a new concourse with solar, furthering its commitment to a clean power future at this gateway location.

EcoMotion served as a solar advisor for the Orange County Great Park, examining sites for solar system investments, partnerships, and demonstrations. One option under consideration was that of a community solar park, such that residents near the park could own shares of the system and be paid virtually for their power. A presentation to the Great Park Corporation included nine options for solar at the Park, from community solar to utility-scale solar, to comprehensive net zero building of all new construction and deep retrofits of all existing facilities — all requiring maximum use of the sun — to innovative demonstrations, perhaps shading the sides of sports field, or dual-axis trackers that like sunflowers track the sun throughout the day, or a pronounced entry way to the park featuring solar.