The school district is going to be part of a hot new trend in saving on energy costs. Kinnelon has been approved to participate in Morris County’s second phase of solar energy projects.
At its April 14 meeting, the school board enthusiastically endorsed a resolution to participate in the Morris County Improvement Authority’s renewable energy program. The authority anticipates obtaining $60,000,000 in bonding to fund solar projects in nine school districts, two municipalities, and the County College of Morris in 2011-12. The Kinnelon School District is not required to chip in for the project.
Morris County recently completed its $21.6 million first phase of its solar project that involved five school districts and county facilities.
The projects were completed at Mennen Arena, the Boonton School District, Mountain Lakes School District, West Morris School District, Parsippany School District, and Morris Hills Regional School District.
Kinnelon Board Member Keith Dama of the board’s Facilities Committee said he and board Trustee Patricia Moeser along with Alice Robinson, school district business administrator, attended meetings with Morris County officials. The end result of the meetings is to add to the district’s record of shared services agreements by entering into an agreement with Morris County, which is preparing specifications and obtaining bonding for the solar projects. The county’s costs will be offset by federal incentives and renewable solar certificates.
Dama stressed that the district will not have to put the project, which involves the installation of solar panels on the roofs of Kinnelon High School (KHS), Pearl R. Miller (PRM), and Stonybrook School, out to referendum. The county has the responsibility of designing, bidding, contracting and managing the entire project, and there is no capital outlay required by the district.
According to Dama, the total county project is projected to generate 8 megawatts of electric power. The solar project in Kinnelon is expected to generate 375.87 kilowatts. Stonybrook is projected to generate 147.20 kilowatts; PRM, 197.11 kilowatts; and KHS, 131.56 kilowatts. It is anticipated that the project will reduce electric costs in the district by reducing public energy consumption at KHS, PRM, and Stonybrook by 10 percent, 32 percent and 20 percent respectively, said Dama.
Dama said a kiosk will be planted at one location in the district that will show the real-time power generation by the solar panels. A web portal will be provided to show similar information to the public.
In order for the project to pass muster with the county, the roofs’ lives had to exceed the life of the solar project. The projected life of the solar panels is 15 to 20 years while the roofs of the schools have a projected life of roughly 40 years.
Dama said the county expects that a solar developer will be selected by the end of this summer and that the entire project will take roughly one year to complete. It is expected that the work at each school will take two months.
Noting that the project required no capital outlay on Kinnelon’s part, Board Member Steven Fink called the district’s participation “a no-brainer.”
Board Member Margaret Zybrick asked if the project would in any way be disruptive to students.
James Opiekun, superintendent of schools, said there will be no movement of construction materials when students are outside. The work will entail the installation of a frame on the roof for the mounting of panels and it will be completed without disruption, he indicated.
If schools are closed and electricity is not being used, Opiekun said the electric meter will actually run backward with the district getting energy credit.
“It’s a real authentic green activity. We’ll actually have a computer terminal where students can see how much energy is being generated, how the weather impacts the energy production, and what the savings are,” said Opiekun.
Noting that a solar project was one of the projects she mentioned should be looked into when she first became a board member, Moeser expressed excitement over the district’s participation in the county solar energy program.
Robinson said the county will fund the program through entering into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that shifts the responsibility for installing solar energy to an outside party or solar investor. Under this funding method, the investor finances, installs, maintains, and owns the solar project. The district will sign a lease with the county for the use of the roofs to generate solar power. The district agrees to provide, in this case the roof space, for the solar installation and agrees to purchase the electricity generated from the solar installation for a maximum of 15 years. Ownership of the panels at the end of the 15-year term usually rests with the district. In phase one, the county entered into an agreement with California-based solar energy provider Tioga Energy and installer SunDurance Energy.
E-mail: walshde [at] northjersey.com
