Recently transitioning to 100% renewable energy after the finished construction of its second solar energy generating station, Stanford provides an astounding example for other universities around both the Bay Area and the United States on renewable energy transitions and emissions reductions.
As the impact of climate change becomes more evident from the increasingly frequent series of natural disasters such as wildfires, storms, and droughts, universities around the United States are beginning to realize the responsibilities that they hold in reducing their carbon footprints.
Whether it be through the ambitious plans of Harvard University to make their buildings more efficient to offset their carbon emissions or electrifying all campus buildings and transportation fleets in Columbia University, universities around the United States are stepping up as leaders for greenhouse gas reductions. Stanford University represents one of the biggest leaders in these changes.
In the spring of 2022, Stanford announced that it achieved 100% renewable electricity after the launch of its second solar energy generating facility. This goal took years of planning under the Stanford Energy Systems Innovation program and the earlier launch of the first solar energy generating facility in 2015.
Ahead of its time, Stanford approved the Stanford Energy Systems Innovation (SESI) program in December of 2011 in order to cut its greenhouse gas emissions while meeting energy demands. This was initially achieved by optimizing campus buildings’ infrastructure, such as installing heat recovery pumps to extract heat energy from wastewater, reducing campus energy use in half.
Although SESI’s success is very much evident today, the program was met by many obstacles in its start-up. “In 2011, early in that decade, we had pretty conservative assumptions for climate change, so the SESI program’s necessity was questioned overall,” said Lincoln Bleveans, the current Executive Director of Stanford’s Sustainability Energy Management Program.
Once the program was approved, “The first task was to develop options for the Stanford board and community on what kind of energy systems they would have liked going forward because the natural gas plant contract, where Stanford received its electricity from a third party, was set to expire in March of 2015. That meant we had a few years to consider new energy schemes for the university,” said Joseph Stagner, the first Executive Director of Stanford’s Sustainability Energy Management Program during the construction of Stanford’s first solar farm.
Stanford made the big choice of moving forward with solar early on as compared with wind or geothermal because producing solar proved the cheapest option, with a fixed rate of 5 cents a kilowatt hour. Partnering with a third-party company to help build its first solar farm, Stanford signed a contractual agreement to buy all the energy produced by the solar farm for the next 30 years.
One of the largest milestones marked by this program was the construction of the first solar energy station in 2015, located in Rosamond, California, spanning over 200 acres, and producing 53% of the university’s total energy demand.
Stanford was very skeptical initially when constructing the first solar farm. As Stagner says, “We were skeptical that it would end up having value initially, but from our models, we had enough confidence that it would have financial value.”
Photo of Stanford’s second solar station situated on 400 acres of land near Lemoore, CA. Credit: Stanford Report, Goldman Sachs Renewable Energy
Later in 2022, we would see the addition of the second solar farm, extending over 400 acres and meeting the remaining end of Stanford’s energy demand.
After the construction of the second solar farm, many students and professors had some pushback about whether Stanford was truly 100% renewable because the solar farms didn’t provide electricity on an hour-to-hour basis, meaning electricity production doesn’t match exactly in time with demand.
“But we knew that going 100% solar meant we’re going to inject as much green power into the grid as we take off of it. It won’t match in time, but it will match in volume. We knew that we would be displacing natural gas over all the hours of generation because we were so early in the process of developing solar,” said Stagner.
Located in two separate locations near Palmdale (solar station #1) and Lemoore (solar station #2), Stanford’s two solar stations combine for a total of 620 acres. Stanford’s second solar station sits in the heart of Central California’s San Joaquin Valley, a region known for producing more than half of California's agricultural output.
The rise of Stanford’s solar energy farms, while providing clean energy for the university, prompts considerations of environmental and communal impacts due to the extensive conversion of land into solar farms.
The environmental impact of solar projects are substantial: these farms usually cover miles of solar panels in desert landscapes, displacing many wildlife species and eliminating vegetation in the area. Deserts constitute one of the most thriving and climate-resilient ecologies, full of unique surprising animal and plant species.
Stanford’s first solar farm sits in the Mojave Desert ecosystem, an important bird region. The Mojave desert hosts a number of other rare plants, tortoises, and lizards, and a select group of these species are endemic to this region.
Photo of Mojave fringe-toed lizard, found only in California’s Mojave Desert. Credit: iNaturalist
In the case of the second solar farm, ethical concerns arose because the amount of land that solar farms take up could be used for other purposes like farming and agriculture in valuable regions such as the Central Valley. Additionally, solar farms are usually very water intensive in order to clean the solar panels’ surfaces.
In partnering with a third-party company, Stanford didn’t need to worry about the environmental consequences of its solar farm due to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This law requires parties to analyze, disclose, and implement measures to alleviate the environmental impacts of their projects.
One problem of partnering with a third party to develop these massive solar farms was that Stanford didn’t have to worry about the process of retrieving the land and where its solar farm was located. “It’s the third party’s responsibility for securing the land, securing the environmental permits, and securing transmission access. We were very aware of all that,” said Joseph Stagner.
Stanford’s lead on being the first university to develop control over its own green energy has undoubtedly inspired many other universities to follow the same path in reducing their emissions. “The 10 University of California campuses want to copy what Stanford did. First, they’re electrifying their campus, second, they’re setting up green electricity to feed it, and lastly, they’re making their buildings more efficient,” said Joseph Stagner.
Princeton University has taken inspiration from Stanford’s solar systems and will be adding eight new solar projects around their campus. These microgrids will increase their solar PV generating capacity from about 5.5% to 19% of current electric energy use.
“Since the construction of the first solar farm in 2015, we have had roughly 5000 tourists from other institutions and universities visit our stations looking to implement their own. Our solar farms have been very successful in not only providing an optimal solution for Stanford but also providing an example for the rest of the world, which comes from our mission perspective,” said Lincoln Bleveans.
Although Stanford has set a glorifying example for what the future of renewables should be, other universities may not be as privileged as Stanford to pursue these goals. “It’s really analogous to a huge green monster, where institutions must cross the initial capital costs to reach that green paradise. This represents the greatest unresolved challenge that other schools must face,” said Bleveans. For perspective, Stanford’s first solar farm cost around $485 million.
As Lincoln Bleveans puts it, “That was easy for Stanford to do because we had the balance sheet, the borrowing capacity, and the credit rating to fund this. But if you’re a less affluent campus that wants to implement these solutions, how do you get over that green monster?”
What other institutions can learn from Stanford’s path in their own journeys is that bearing through the initial capital costs will end up saving them money in the long run: “Our conservative estimates weren’t enough because we realized the climate isn’t changing on a smooth curve, but rather in large steps.” said Lincoln Bleveans. After bearing the initial capital costs, institutions can look forward to the much better operating costs and environmental benefits.
Stanford’s journey to achieving 100% renewable energy serves as a testament to the transformative impact that universities around America can have on reducing their emissions. Whether it be through the ambitious goals of Harvard in planting more trees or the 10 University of California campuses that are using Stanford’s framework, we can definitely expect a diverse array of solutions in the near future.
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Braylyn To is a junior at Stanford majoring in both physics and earth systems. He is passionate about physics solutions for climate change and enjoys learning/reporting about the direct impacts of climate change.
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