Colorado’s third largest school system, Douglas County School district, recently signed a power-purchase agreement with Premier Power Renewable Energy Inc, a California-based solar company, to install solar panels on 31 district buildings. The project, set to be completed in nine months, will cost an estimated $18.3 million, and will service 30 schools and one stadium in the Douglas County school system.

The school system submitted its proposal last April, and eleven companies bid on the contract. The district narrowed it down to three companies, and Premier Power was finally awarded the contract

Although Premier Power is only a couple states away, located in El Dorado Hills, Calif, it has expanded solar contracts out of the United States since its founding in 2001. On July 13, the company announced that it had signed an agreement with Mirrione Francesco Legnami SRL, an Italian timber company, to construct a 0.5 megawatt (MW) solar power plant outside of Sicily.

That plant “makes productive unused space available on rooftops in [a] region of Sicily best known for agriculture, while producing clean electric power given the amount of high sun exposure,” said Dean R. Marks, CEO of Premier Power, in a company press release.

The Douglas County project will be 3 MW—about 104 kilowatts per school—when completed, and will not cost the Douglas County taxpayer a cent. The company estimated that the solar panels will save the school district $5.5 Million over the next 25 years.

Because of the power-purchase agreement among the Douglas County School District, Premier Power, and REgeneration Finance, LLC, a solar developer and financier that commonly works with school districts, the solar panels will be designed, constructed, operated, and maintained by Premier Power.

According to Premier Power, “The power-purchase agreement states that the school district pays for the power produced by the solar system at a pre-determined rate, a price well below what is charged by their utility, over the life of the agreement while a third-party owns, operates, and maintains the solar system.”

Overall, the savings in utility costs could help Douglas County concentrate on other things—like purchasing school supplies.

“We are extremely proud of our partnership with Premier Power and REgeneration Finance,” said John Carson, president, Douglas County School District Board of Education in a Premier Power press release. “This project will enable us to save thousands of dollars a year in electrical expenses, while also reducing our environmental impact at no capital and operational cost to the school district.”