Ventura County Opens a 5.8 MW Solar Canopy and Doubles Its Savings Claim to $21 Million
- Solar canopy capacity: 5.8 MW
- Savings projected in 2026: $21 million over 20 years
- Savings projected in 2022: $10.8 million
- Fixed PPA price: $0.1329 per kWh
- Battery capacity: 1.9 MW
Ventura County switched on a 5.8 MW solar canopy over the parking lots at its Government Center in Ventura, California on August 25, 2026. County Executive Officer Sevet Johnson said the system will save about $1 million a year, or roughly $21 million across the 20-year contract. ForeFront Power designed, built and owns the array under a power purchase agreement, so the county paid nothing up front.
When the county signed that agreement in 2022, it published a different number. Its own announcement said the 20-year deal “will result in $10.8 million in savings.” The array is the same 5.8 MW. The term is the same 20 years.
The county also published the price it agreed to pay. ForeFront Power sells the power at a fixed $0.1329 per kWh for the full term, with an option to extend five years. A fixed price cannot drift. The savings figure can only move if the rate the county would otherwise pay moves.
The 2022 release put first-year output at 9 million kWh, enough to cover a year of electricity for 765 homes. Hold that output flat for 20 years and the array delivers roughly 180 million kWh. On that basis the $10.8 million estimate works out near 6 cents of savings per kWh, which implies an avoided retail rate around 19 cents. The $21 million estimate implies about 12 cents per kWh, and an avoided rate closer to 25 cents. Neither the county nor ForeFront Power published the rate forecast behind either figure.
The schedule moved as well. The 2022 release expected completion by the end of 2025, and the system opened in August 2026. Solar Power World reported the site also carries a 1.9 MW battery. The 2022 agreement did not mention storage at all. Neither party gave the duration in megawatt-hours. That number sets how long the batteries can carry the buildings.
The 2022 documents also set the context for the deal. The array covers about 60 percent of the electricity used at the Government Center. It offsets an estimated 3,900 metric tons of greenhouse gas each year. Southern California Edison ran the interconnection study, and the county buys its supply through a community choice aggregator.
Why It Matters
Public agencies approve a solar PPA on one headline number, and that number forecasts someone else’s future prices. Ventura County fixed its generation cost at 13.29 cents per kWh in 2022. That was the real decision, and a defensible one. The savings total attached to it has since doubled with no change to the hardware. A board reviewing the next canopy should ask for the avoided-rate curve rather than the 20-year total. The fixed price is the commitment. The savings claim is an assumption about retail rates.
Critical Perspective
Ventura County locked its generation price at $0.1329 per kWh in 2022, and the savings claim attached to that price has since grown from $10.8 million to $21 million. The county published neither the avoided retail rate it assumed in 2022 nor the one it assumes now, so the only moving part in the estimate stays invisible. Sonoma State University signed a comparable 4.1 MW carport and 1.55 MWh battery package earlier this year on the same power purchase structure, and its savings figure rests on the same unpublished rate curve. If Southern California Edison rates rise more slowly than the model assumes, who revisits the $21 million and tells the board?
