CleanSpark signed an MOU with the Shoreline Unified School District to form a strategic alliance for Microgrid Assessment and Deployment. In accordance with the MOU, CleanSpark will evaluate two stages of grid resiliency for the district. The intended Resiliency Zones would use solar energy, storage and back-up generation to meet the school district’s energy needs and provide back-up energy to the surrounding communities during emergencies.

“The benefits of this partnership to the district are many. The presence of microgrids would protect our schools from power outages. Additionally, we would be able to employ renewable energy in our schools, which would have a large scale benefit,” said Bob Raines, superintendent of Unified School District.

CleanSpark will begin the first assessment in January and anticipates presenting the results of the feasibility study report to the school board in March. CleanSpark’s Microgrid Value Stream Optimizer will be used to determine the best configurations for solar PV, battery storage and back-up generation for each school district facility in the designated areas to ensure a secure and optimized power solution.

As part of this effort, CleanSpark has assembled a team of industry advisors to provide guidance and support to the School District Microgrid Project, including representatives from PG&E, Sonoma Clean Power, Marin Clean Energy and CAISO. CleanSpark’s team will provide guidance to the school district throughout the development process, with the goal of providing its expertise and mPulse software to maximize the value and resiliency of the microgrid.

“CleanSpark is pleased to be working side-by-side with the Shoreline Unified School District to assess the benefits of creating a Grid Resiliency Zone for the district and surrounding community utilizing the school’s facilities while providing an economic benefit and safety to the school district. Microgrids controlled by our software can help support a community’s power needs in the case of natural disasters that may interrupt power supplies. This has become increasingly important as the wildfires continue to cause significant problems for communities, both regarding safety and the impact to local economies,” said Zach Bradford, CleanSpark’s CEO.

Mr. Bradford continued, “This agreement provides a path to contract directly with the school district to engineer, design and construct, on an exclusive basis, energy systems, likely to be created under a power purchase agreement (PPA) or as an Energy Services Agreement (ESA). CleanSpark anticipates that if the assessment results prove viable, for the district, that it would provide a portion of the project financing directly, in addition to engaging other financial partners. Our goal is to design a system that, when controlled by our mPulse software, provides a significant return to our stakeholders while also serving the greater good in the community.”

News item from CleanSpark