Hart district officials announced a nearly $10 million plan to upgrade campus lighting and energy facilities with energy-efficient retrofits district officials hope will save on energy costs in the long term.

William S. Hart Union High School District Governing Board members approved the contract with Alliance Building Solutions (ABS), which is upgrading to energy-saving lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), and advanced battery storage at several campuses and facilities.

The district is paying for the project with money the state has allocated for schools from Proposition 39,  a voter-approved ballot initiative that appropriated $550 million annually statewide for eligible projects to improve energy efficiency and expand clean energy generation.

“Prop 39 provides state money that is being used for this project,” said Carle Manley, director of maintenance and operations for the Hart School District. “Over the next few years, we will see that money coming back to the district in savings.”

The new system automatically detects peak power usage and adjusts it resources accordingly to optimize efficiency, officials said in a release.

The advanced battery storage has a converter that will sense when a school’s energy usage nears peak load and will automatically reduce electrical consumption. This will keep the usage down at a lower rate range with Edison.

District officials estimate the cost of the installation at approximately $9.6 million, but “conservative estimates” put the savings at approximately $500,000 each year.

“The Hart District is always looking for ways to reduce costs and improve operating efficiencies for the long term,” said Governing Board member Steve Sturgeon. “Prop 39 is the catalyst to make this happen with respect to energy-saving components across the District schools. All projections indicate long term savings with the retrofit of current state of the art technologies for our aging equipment.”