West Valley-Mission Community College District Commits to Solar Expansion Project with SunPower that Includes Battery Storage

Expected to Save the District $34 Million in Electricity Costs Over 25 Years

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Jun 13, 2019, 08:05 ET

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- West Valley-Mission Community College District (WVMCCD) recently selected SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) to deploy a fully integrated solar and storage project across its West Valley and Mission College campuses in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. SunPower® Helix® Carport systems installed will total 5.4 megawatts, allowing the District to offset approximately 75 percent of grid electricity use with solar energy. A Helix Storage system will be installed at each campus, totaling a combined 2 megawatts (3,800 kilowatt hours) and delivering significant demand charge savings to WVMCCD.

This SunPower solar initiative will be the second for WVMCCD. Since 2011, 2.2 megawatts of highly-customized SunPower solar carports operating at both West Valley and Mission Colleges have generated an estimated $860,000 in electricity savings each year to the District. In addition to renewable energy, the colleges are home to a total of five U.S. Green Building Council LEED certified buildings, and feature drought tolerant landscaping and bioswales across campuses.

"Our district has a long-standing commitment to creating environmentally responsible and highly sustainable campuses for students, faculty and staff," said Ed Maduli, Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services, West Valley-Mission Community College District. "Renewable energy from SunPower has proven to be a valuable investment and a critical component to reaching our goals, and we look forward to building on our efforts with storage which will allow us to avoid expensive utility demand charges for years to come."

Solar-and-storage system construction is planned to commence this fall, with completion expected in 2020. The project is funded through local Measure W which authorizes the District to issue bonds to finance facility and technology updates. The District will own its solar power system, with SunPower providing operations and maintenance, as well as a performance guarantee for 25 years.

"We congratulate West Valley-Mission Community College District for leading by example and taking control of energy costs with reliable solar and storage solutions from SunPower," said Nam Nguyen, SunPower executive vice president, commercial solar. "We look forward to helping the District maximize its new solar investment and increase demand charge savings with Helix Storage."

SunPower continues to leverage its market-leading solar-plus-storage experience, enabling customers like WVMCCD to save more on electricity bills. After a little over one year on the market, interest in Helix Storage remains high with pipeline exceeding 110 megawatts and attach rates of over 35 percent.

To learn more about solar-plus-storage for higher education, visit SunPower's webpage here or stop by booth 46 at the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference from July 8 – 11, 2019.

About SunPower
With more than 30 years of proven experience, SunPower is a global leader in solar innovation and sustainability. Our unique approach emphasizes the seamless integration of advanced SunPower technologies, delivering The Power of One® complete solar solutions and lasting customer value. SunPower provides outstanding service and impressive electricity cost savings for residential, commercial and power plant customers. At SunPower, we are passionately committed to changing the way our world is powered. And as we continue shaping the future of Smart Energy, we are guided by our legacy of innovation, optimism, perseverance and integrity. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, SunPower has dedicated, customer-focused employees in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Since 2011, we've been majority-owned by Total, the fourth largest publicly-listed energy company in the world. For more information, visit www.sunpower.com.

SunPower's Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding project plans and timelines, projected energy output and relative generating capacity, product performance, and cost savings. These forward-looking statements are based on our current assumptions, expectations, and beliefs and involve substantial risks and uncertainties that may cause results, performance, or achievement to materially differ from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: regulatory changes and the availability of economic incentives promoting use of solar energy, challenges inherent in constructing certain of our large projects, and fluctuations or declines in the performance of our solar panels and other products and solutions. A detailed discussion of these factors and other risks that affect our business is included in filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from time to time, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, particularly under the heading "Risk Factors." Copies of these filings are available online from the SEC or on the SEC Filings section of our Investor Relations website at investors.sunpowercorp.com. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information currently available to us, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.

SOURCE SunPower Corp.