High-tech Tesla battery installations on the College of Marin’s Kentfield and Indian Valley campuses could save $10,000 a month thanks to a unique partnership enabling the college to store and distribute electricity generated by its solar arrays.

College of Marin executives were at Tesla Design Studio in Los Angeles Thursday night as Tesla officials unveiled an innovative battery energy storage system with home, commercial and industrial applications — including a program that will be employed at College of Marin later this month.

College of Marin is the first community college in the state to join the Tesla venture in which stationary batteries or energy facilities will be developed on campus.

Tesla will get $5.3 million in state and utility incentives and rebates covering site preparation, installation of lithium-ion battery packs, a liquid thermal control system, and software commanded by a solar inverter.

“It won’t cost us a dime and we’ll save $100,000 to $150,000 on our power bills,” college president David Wain Coon said. “It’s very exciting.”

Coon added that “as a college committed to innovation and sustainable practices, we are thrilled to be partnering with a company that is on the forefront of advancing energy alternatives.”

Greg Nelson, vice president of finance and operations at the college, said battery installation will begin later month and be completed in June. Five 6-foot-tall, 480-kilowatt battery packs the size of a walk-in closet will be installed on concrete slabs behind the Student Services Building in Kentfield and near the main building at Indian Valley.

“This takes College of Marin to the next stage of energy conservation,” Nelson said, adding the college collaborated with Marin Clean Energy and “we were able to meet the program qualifications and embark on this new venture” after nine months of work.

Rafael Silverblatt, a program specialist at Marin Clean Energy, said the staff alerted the college about the Tesla program, helped with paperwork and assisted in other ways. The batteries, he added, will be the biggest in Marin. Wanden Treanor, president of the college board, was delighted, saying educators were proud to join “in this innovative pilot project.”

Tesla’s battery system, a version of the technology that powers its electric cars, can “store energy from renewable resources, provide critical grid services, reduce electricity bills, manage power demand, provide backup power” and bolster the grid itself, the college said in a statement spotlighting aspects of the program. “Once installed, the units will be integrated with the local grid to capture the full potential of the college’s solar arrays by storing excess generation for later use and delivering solar power at all times.”

Tesla’s website explains the battery’s residential application this way: It’s “a rechargeable lithium-ion battery designed to store energy at a residential level for load shifting, backup power and self-consumption of solar power generation. The Powerwall consists of Tesla’s lithium-ion battery pack, liquid thermal control system and software that receives dispatch commands from a solar inverter. The unit mounts seamlessly on a wall and is integrated with the local grid to harness excess power and give customers the flexibility to draw energy from their own reserve.”

Tesla, which has delivered nearly 70,000 electric vehicles to customers across the globe, looks forward to a big revenue stream from the battery business. Sales of battery storage systems for homes and businesses could exceed $4 billion a year, according to Deutsche Bank. Home models could cost installers $3,500 or so.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the battery enterprise may change the “entire energy infrastructure of the world,” adding that “Tesla Energy is a critical step in this mission to enable zero emission power generation.”