B-P school district expects solar array active by June

(Image Courtesy: Zachary Matson)

Zachary Matson
dailygazette.com
January 9, 2017

A 10-acre solar array that has been years in the making is expected to come online by June on property at the edge of the Perth intermediate school campus.

Construction of the array is set to begin this month, according to Broadalbin-Perth Superintendent Steve Tomlinson. Crews must first pound posts into the ground that are needed to hold scaffolding for 330-watt solar panels – nearly 5,900 of them in all.

District officials promise the solar project will cut the district’s utility costs and save millions in coming decades. It also establishes a culture of conservation and brings students a new educational asset, which will be infused into lessons at all grade levels.

“The district is really putting its green foot forward,” Tomlinson said Thursday.
The solar array will pipe energy directly into National Grid power lines, crediting the district for each kilowatt-hour of energy produced and automatically deducting the value of that energy from the district’s utility bills. The district pays $200,000 to $300,000 a year for energy, Tomlinson said.

The savings will be used to pay part of the local share of a $39.7 million capital project approved by voters in 2016, districts officials have promised. The savings are projected to be as high as $5.3 million over the array’s 25-year lifespan, about $3.6 million of which will help cover capital project payments.

The solar project was designed and sized to generate savings to match the district’s utility costs; the savings don’t completely wipe out the utility bill, though, as the district will still pay a discounted rate for energy generated by the array.

When the district was approaching its first capital project after losing an enhanced state reimbursement rate for merged districts, officials explored ways to reduce the cost of the project to local taxpayers. That’s when the conversation turned to solar.

“We have a revenue stream that can offset the local share by a significant amount,” Tomlinson said.

In May 2015, the district released a request for proposals from solar project developers, eventually signing an agreement with Buffalo-based Solar Liberty in early 2016. Fourteen months later, the project had its permit from the state Education Department and other agencies. Fences and stakes to indicate the array’s layout went into the ground last month.