Redwood City School District is supercharging its commitment to renewable energy as construction begins on solar canopies at seven additional campuses this month.

Groundbreaking began Monday at Henry Ford Elementary School and Taft Community School, with Kennedy Middle School following suit on Jan. 14. Other campuses will begin solar work in the spring and continue through July.

“These investments help ensure more funding remains focused on students and classrooms while easing financial pressure on the community,” a district press release stated.

Over the next 25 years, the Redwood City School District projects that savings across both phases of the solar program will total about $21 million. Once all systems are operational in the first year, estimated savings will be approximately $750,000, helping ease schools’ operating budgets.

Almost $4 million from the federal Investment Tax Credit will help fund the project, which costs $15 million for this phase alone. Approved by voters in 2015, Measure T is another major solar funding source, a bond that funds district facility improvements and equipment acquisitions.

The district has sought to expand its solar program to support environmental sustainability, improve campus environments, and better steward public resources. Solar energy is expected to generate long-term energy savings and reduced taxpayer costs.

Solar canopies at school sites are designed to generate renewable electricity and provide additional shaded outdoor spaces, which are useful amid increasingly severe weather events.

Redwood City School District’s Board of Trustees approved the solar initiative in November 2024. Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion School, Clifford School, Roosevelt School and the district’s office have already installed solar systems as part of phase one of the project.

Aside from the Henry Ford, Taft, and Kennedy schools, the campuses that will see solar development in the first half of the year are Roy Cloud School, Hoover Community School, 400 Duane St. (which houses McKinley Institute of Technology and North Star Academy), and Orion Alternative Elementary School.

All of the district’s solar systems will operate under net metering to generate electricity on-site, enable the campus to use what it needs in real time, and export excess energy to the grid for utility bill credits.

Find out more about Redwood City School District’s solar program by visiting this link.