Optimize use of energy and resources
Increase green energy use
PEOPLE
20,000
students access enhanced STEAM activities
PROFIT
$65MM
in energy savings
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) serves over 20,000 students from preschool to adult school across 33 District campuses.
Starting in 2018, District leadership began exploring opportunities to make various improvements to its facilities and implement sustainable energy solutions to reduce utility spending. At the same time, District leaders saw renewable energy upgrades as a unique opportunity to provide meaningful connections to science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) concepts for students. To accomplish these objectives, HUSD partnered with ENGIE.
ENGIE is committed to building three dimensions of impact for every customer’s future. Looking beyond simple financial savings, ENGIE combined environmental, fiscal and educational sustainability to create a platform for hands-on learning, teacher training and community awareness. ENGIE’s dedicated team of local energy experts worked closely with District staff to design and develop the program to be specifically customized for their energy needs. In conjunction, ENGIE’s Community Impact team collaborated with District principals and teachers to create hands-on STEAM activities that turn the District into a living laboratory, using the modernizations as a platform for hands-on learning and STEAM career exposure.
ENGIE partnered with the District to upgrade all 33 District sites with infrastructure improvements, solar shade structures, roof and ground-mount arrays. The implementation includes 5.3 MW of solar PV, 360 kW/720 kWh of battery storage and 38 electric vehicle (EV) chargers, creating a robust District-wide renewable energy profile.
ENGIE collaborated with sister company EVBox to procure the 38 EV stations, which were set up across 22 District sites and offer a total of 76 charging ports. HUSD was able to take advantage of grants for EV charging stations from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
The District is projected to see $65MM in General Fund savings over the life of the program. The new solar installations are expected to generate 90% of the District’s needs, through the production of 8,100,000 kWh in the first year—the equivalent to powering 650 homes for a year. This clean, on-site renewable power reduces costs and protects against future electricity rate increases.
In addition, the battery storage systems, funded in part by California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP), are connected to the District’s solar arrays to reduce peak demand charges, optimize facility energy usage, and maximize utility savings. The District can access real-time energy data via the user-friendly ENGIE Utilityvision™ dashboard.
HUSD schools are also becoming a community hub for EV charging. As more EVs hit the road and drivers are looking for a public place to charge them, District staff, students, and parents will be able to charge vehicles while class is in session. The new charging stations contribute to meeting California’s goal of putting 5 million zero-emissions vehicles on the roads by 2030 and installing a total of 250,000 EV charging stations by 2025. Overall, the program is expected to provide environmental benefits equivalent to removing 1,153 cars from the road annually.
The project has also provided an opportunity to enhance students’ understanding of climate issues—and expose them to STEAM careers—through direct engagement with the science behind the sustainability project. ENGIE’s Community Impact team partnered with principals and teachers across the District to design, and support the implementation of, hands-on STEAM initiatives, such as the following :
Dr. Matt Wayne
District Superintendent
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) serves over 20,000 students representing diverse cultures, heritages, and economic conditions from preschool to adult school across 33 District campuses. The District offers a variety of college preparedness programs, career pathways, award-winning visual and performing arts programs, state-of-the-art facilities, dual language immersion programs in Spanish and Mandarin, athletics, and more.