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12345 EL MONTE RD
LOS ALTOS HILLS, CA

12345 El Monte Rd is the main campus of Foothill College, a public community college spanning 122 acres with multiple academic buildings, labs, athletic facilities, and large paved parking areas serving ~14,000 students. Daytime and evening operations drive sustained HVAC, lighting, and lab electrical loads across the multi-building campus.

Aerial view of the LOS ALTOS HILLS SolarPorts installation
Site aerial
System layout — solar carports at LOS ALTOS HILLS
System layout — solar carports

Projected savings.

Year 1

$66,100

Lifetime (~30 yr)

$4,933,000

By the numbers.

2.3

Years to payback

$11.7M

Total benefits (lifetime)

$6.8M

Property value gain

$345,802

Tax incentives captured

Levelized cost of energy

$0.04 / kWh · SolarPorts
vs.
$1.17 / kWh · PG&E

Like most LOS ALTOS HILLS businesses, the site was paying high Peak rates and large Demand charges — the kind of bill structure that punishes daytime energy use and penalizes the very hours commercial properties consume the most power. The result was a Levelized Cost Of Energy (LCOE) of $1.17/kWh from PG&E, reduced to $0.04/kWh from SolarPorts.

SolarPorts evaluated their interval power usage (every 15 minutes) and proposed a right-sized 90.0 kW solar system for on-site generation delivered as 3 SolarPort carport structures above the parking lot.

The system now produces roughly 141,120 AC kWh of clean energy each year, an estimated $66,100 in year-one utility offsets, and around $4,933,000 in net lifetime savings — turning a recurring operating-cost into a long-term, predictable energy hedge.

System spec

System design

Site
12345 EL MONTE RD
LOS ALTOS HILLS, CA 94022
APN
17541016
Utility
PG&E
Seismic rating
1.9
Irradiance
2
System size
90.0 kW DC
Estimated production
141,120 AC kWh / year
Year-1 utility offset
$66,100
Lifetime savings (~30 yr)
$4,933,000
Solar panels
180 × Trina 480 BiFacial
SolarPort structures
3
Wire loss
2.0%

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