Three elementary schools belonging to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) this year made the California Board of Education’s list of California Distinguished Schools. Living up to this accolade, the district is demonstrating it can distinguish in the realm of renewable energy, too.

Last month, the district announced it will install solar panels atop nine of the district’s eleven elementary schools in Santa Monica and Malibu. To be installed this fall by PermaCity Inc. and financed by Regeneration Finance LLC, the solar energy systems are expected to supply over two-thirds of each school’s daily electricity consumption, saving the district as much as $5.1 million over the next 25 years. Notably, the project timeline is a relatively short one. A main reason is that, because the solar systems are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, they are not subject to approval by the cities of Malibu and Santa Monica.

The district’s latest announcement ironed out the details of an April meeting about solar installations, and is the latest move in a trend that has seen California elementary schools going solar via PG&E’s Solar Schools Program. Since the PG&E plan set the stage for California solar installations at elementary schools statewide, 125 k-12 schools have gone solar, not including the nine targeted under the Santa Monica-Malibu plan.