A Grid Positive Experience at Butte College

Jan 05, 2011

BUTTE COLLEGE: NEAL SKIVER

NEAL SKIVER: I’m Neal Skiver, I’m with Bank of America’s Energy and Power Finance Group. My group is responsible for financing renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects in the western U.S.

I’m not a technical guy, but I am very passionate about our commitment to the environment. It’s why I joined our organization. We were involved in the very first Clean Renewable Energy Bond program. We were involved in the very first one in California.

Now, we’re not technical experts, but we’re able to work with our clients at a very early stage and help them in the financial analysis of their projects.

Butte College is really a leader on the sustainability front. We were introduced to Butte a number of years ago. We helped them raise capital for their second phase of their program and then we were involved with them after the Recovery Act came around to help them with these applications to qualify for the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds to actually raise the capital necessary to build the final phase of their solar project.

All of the solar panels and efficiency measures that you see here on campus are the result of a lot of work that goes into it. And it’s not just a sustainability initiative, it’s a real economic program as well. Once this program is completed, not only are they going to completely offset their electric utility bill, they’re going to actually generate surplus power to sell back into the grid.

We talk about having confidence in being able to bring the capital forward. That’s really important, but also, our customers are very interested in partnering with somebody who has the same kind of core values from an environmental and a sustainability initiative that they do. And that’s what we bring to the solution.

Butte College sits on 928 acres in Butte County, California. The majority of the campus is a wildlife refuge, but the developed portion is no less distinctive. A drive through campus takes you past massive arrays of solar panels – on the ground, over parking structures and atop LEED-certified buildings.

For the past five years, the leadership of Butte College has involved the entire campus in its effort to become the first grid positive campus in the country. The college will produce more energy than it uses by May 2011, reducing its carbon footprint by 50 percent.

In 30 years, it will save an estimated $150 million in energy costs. The idea to invest in sustainability was raised by Butte College’s board of trustees. Intrigued by the notion of saving energy and money, President Diana Van Der Ploeg tasked Mike Miller, director of facilities, planning and management, with researching and implementing the project. Butte College’s first solar panel array was installed in 2005.

Mike met with Bank of America as he prepared for phase two of the sustainability project. The bank issued the financing Butte College needed to advance to phase three and helped the school secure Clean Renewable Energy Bonds from the federal government.

The technical aspects of phases two and three were managed by Chico Electric. Its president, Norm Nielsen, is an alumnus of Butte College. Under his leadership, Chico Electric took on a large role in the school’s Clean Energy Workforce Training Program. Its employees provide input on the curriculum, teach required courses and hire top graduates as apprentices. Two such graduates are Zac Goodman and E. J. Penick. Zac earned his bachelor’s degree at California State University, Chico, and spent months looking for a job before enrolling at Butte College. He knew the theory behind sustainability and was eager to get his hands dirty. His classmate, E. J., was a single father of two children working for minimum wage. In the Clean Energy Workforce Training Program, he found his passion and the means to support his family.

Today, Zac and E. J. are part of the team installing solar panels at Butte College’s Chico Center. They’re proud to be affiliated with the country’s first grid positive campus and the larger green movement, improving the energy-efficiency and economy of cities like Chico around the world.

A Grid Positive Experience at Butte College

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