Contra Costa County Will Hedge Against Peak Electricity Rates and Save Millions with Solar-Plus-Storage Commitment

County Added to SunPower's Growing List of Public Sector Customers Embracing Storage as a Value Add

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Oct 03, 2019, 08:05 ET

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Contra Costa County in California recently selected SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) to deploy a mix of Helix^® Roof and Carport solar systems at 10 locations totaling 3.7 megawatts, which is expected to offset approximately 68 percent grid electricity and save $16.5 million in energy costs over 25 years. Three of those sites will also feature Helix Storage systems that reach a combined 1.5 megawatts (3,000 kilowatt hours) and deliver significant demand charge savings to Contra Costa County.

"The electric utility system is evolving and we're confident that these solar and storage solutions from SunPower will help us adapt, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the local environment while delivering energy and demand charge savings to the County," said Frank Di Massa, Energy Manager at Contra Costa County. "The solar and storage systems are a key component of our Distributed Energy Resource Action Plan and, by extension, will facilitate the expansion of the County's EV charge infrastructure and automated demand response efforts."

Solar-and-storage system design and implementation will take place over the next year. The County will buy energy produced by the project under a 25-year power purchase agreement and will own the renewable energy credits associated with the solar production which may have a monetary value in the future.

"We welcome Contra Costa County to a growing list of customers that are offsetting high demand charges with our Helix Solar and Storage solutions, allowing the County to reduce energy costs and use savings to enhance County public services," said Nam Nguyen, SunPower executive vice president, commercial solar. "As the U.S. commercial solar leader, SunPower is committed to simplifying the solar and storage process for energy buyers like Contra Costa County with intelligent solutions that provide safe and reliable access to renewable energy."

Demand for SunPower's value-generating Helix solutions remains high, with a Helix Storage pipeline exceeding 135 megawatts and attach rates of over 35 percent. The company has leveraged this proven success to develop Equinox Storage, a residential storage solution for homeowners announced recently. To learn more about solar-plus-storage for government organizations, visit www.sunpower.com/commercial.

About SunPower
As one of the world's most innovative and sustainable energy companies, SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) provides a diverse group of customers with complete solar solutions and services. Residential customers, businesses, governments, schools and utilities around the globe rely on SunPower's more than 30 years of proven experience. From the first flip of the switch, SunPower delivers maximum value and superb performance throughout the long life of every solar system. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, SunPower has dedicated, customer-focused employees in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. For more information about how SunPower is changing the way our world is powered, 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.