Contra Costa County Grand Jury • 2012-2013

A Report by the 2012-2013 Contra Costa County Grand Jury*

Published: May 28, 2013 11 pages
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Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F12

Findings and Recommendations 13 findings

F1
SRVUSD and PUSD fund their debt service from Net Savings. MDUSD, CCCCD and 124 MUSD fund their solar energy programs with General Obligation Bonds, which are 125 retired through the payment of monies arising from tax revenues. 126
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Stellar Energy SunPower SolarCity Chevron Energy Solutions The financial projections Yes - 0.5\% Yes - 0.75\%
F2
PUSD, MDUSD, CCCCD and MUSD are not reserving funds for future anticipated 127 Operational and Maintenance ("O&M") costs and unanticipated costs such as inverters 128 and other "big-ticket" items. 129
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Yes - 0.5\% Yes - 0.5\% Yes - 0.5\% include an annual rate of photo voltaic degradation 3% 5% 4%
F3
All districts but MUSD gave some consideration to the PPA approach in lieu of 130 ownership of solar panels. Those that considered such an approach did not employ 131 detailed lease versus buy financial analyses as part of their evaluations. 132
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
School districts include the original projections in tracking reports of energy produced 154 and related Net Savings generated for purposes of comparison. 155
F4
Future increases in insurance costs were only considered by the MUSD in projecting Net 133 Savings. 134
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The reports in Recommendation No. 3 be available for public viewing on the districts' 156 web sites in addition to any other method used by the districts for their dissemination. 157 158
F5
Reports of solar energy produced, and the related Net Savings, do not include 135 comparisons to the original projections for those categories (see No. 7 in Appendix 1). The reports of information in Finding No. 5 were not always available on the districts' 137 websites. 138
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Districts mitigate risks regarding the long-term viability of the solar energy programs and 159 identify funds to implement this. 160
F6
No. 1) was requested from was a several vendors renegotiation of a previous PPA contract, competitive bids could not be solicited. The districts established Yes, Actual data Yes for
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
Districts considering solar energy programs seek information from other school districts 161 in the county that have a solar energy program in place regarding their experiences, acquired knowledge, and outcomes resulting from their programs. 162
F7
The districts did not insulate themselves from financial risk by securing performance 139 bonds from solar energy vendors to ensure fulfillment of long-term warranties, 140 performance guaranties and O&M obligations. 141
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
The County Office of Education facilitate the exchange of information on solar energy 163 programs among the county's school districts and identify funds to implement this. 164
F8
The five districts did not share substantive information, analyses and experiences with 142 each other concerning the selection and installation of a solar energy program, and the 143 Contra Costa County Office of Education did not facilitate this process. 144
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
School districts employ the beneficial actions identified in
F9
All districts have learned some lessons in the implementation of the five solar energy 145 projects that could be beneficial to other school districts considering solar energy projects 146 (see Appendix 2).
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
Where feasible, ensure that the term of the warranty, performance guaranty and the 215 included O&M costs provided by the vendor are not less than the term of the project 216 financing. 217
F10
After paying Not Not Not applicable financing specific to solar left over the installer, applicable applicable were not absorbed into the along with consultants general fund the higher and other Savings expenses, the realized excess bank were used to borrowings fund the are being solar used for solar installation installation at at an a new additional elementary school - school. none of these funds were absorbed into the general fund. Discounted Cash Flow
Related Recommendations (1)
R10
After paying Not Not Not applicable financing specific to solar left over the installer, applicable applicable were not absorbed into the along with consultants general fund the higher and other Savings expenses, the realized excess bank were used to borrowings fund the are being solar used for solar installation installation at at an a new additional elementary school - school. none of these funds were absorbed into the general fund. Discounted Cash Flow
F11
Yes, 5% Yes, 8% No Yes, 3% No discount ("DCF") analysis was discount rate discount rate used to determine the net rate used. used used benefits of the project - see Note No. 2. 173 174 Notes: 175
Related Recommendations (1)
R11
Yes, 5% Yes, 8% No Yes, 3% No discount ("DCF") analysis was discount rate discount rate used to determine the net rate used. used used benefits of the project - see Note No. 2. 173 174 Notes: 175
F13
Include in tracking reports of actual energy produced and the related Net Savings a 223 comparison with original projections and make such reports available on the district's 224 web site in addition to any other method for their dissemination. 225
Related Recommendations (1)
R13
Include in tracking reports of actual energy produced and the related Net Savings a 223 comparison with original projections and make such reports available on the district's 224 web site in addition to any other method for their dissemination. 225
F14
Take steps to mitigate risks regarding the long-term viability of their solar energy
Related Recommendations (1)
R14
Take steps to mitigate risks regarding the long-term viability of their solar energy

No Responses Found 20

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

Acalanes Union High School District School District
Antioch Unified School District School District
Brentwood Union School District School District
Byron Union Elementary School District School District
Canyon Elementary School District School District
Contra Costa Community College District School District
Contra Costa County Office of Education Agency
John Swett Unified School District School District
Knightsen Elementary School District School District
Lafayette Elementary School District School District
Liberty Union High School District School District
Martinez Unified School District School District
Moraga Elementary School District School District
Mt. Diablo Unified School District School District
Oakley Union Elementary School District School District
Orinda Union School District School District
Pittsburg Unified School District School District
San Ramon Valley Unified School District School District
Walnut Creek Elementary School District School District
West Contra Costa Unified School District School District

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.