Taft Union High School District, which serves a mostly rural area in Kern County, California, hired NV5 in 2016 to provide a full suite of solar consulting services. Over the course of 4 years, NV5 completed a feasibility analysis, conducted a competitive procurement process, supported project implementation, and provided ongoing asset management for the ground-mounted and solar arrays.
During a utility tariff and financial analysis of the solar system, NV5’s Asset Management team discovered tariff and billing problems at both sites. Despite having a net metering aggregation agreement in place, the utility accounts for Buena Vista High School were not receiving benefits under the aggregation. NV5 contacted PG&E on the District’s behalf and was able to get the savings retroactively applied, resulting in a $123,000 bill credit to the District. The second site Taft High School, had not been placed on the correct tariff upon permission to operate. PG&E switched the tariff retroactively, and the District received a $72,000 bill credit. The ground-mounted and canopy solar arrays generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 346 typical California households for a year.
