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Dist. 202 considering solar energy project

School Board members for District 202 heard a presentation Monday night for the installation of solar panels to offset electricity costs.

Superintendent Steve Wilder informed the board that he had been approached by Eagle Point Solar several months ago about an energy project.

According to the superintendent, the district would be able to offset their power consumption pretty significantly with the proposed installation of solar panels.

“Bus garage, softball field, sports complex, every single building that the district owns and operates was included in this study,” Wilder told board members. “So really, if you take the high school out… we could potentially generate anywhere from 92 to 100 percent of all the electricity that we would need for our school district.”

He added that power consumption at the high school would only be offset by 57 percent.

In total, if the board approves the purchasing and installing the solar panels, the indication is the district could see about $652,099 in savings over 25 years once customer incentives were taken into account and energy increases are considered.

Wilder told the board he was skeptical of the numbers at first, so he reached out to a neighbor, Spoon River Valley, who was going through the process already, “I had a long conversation with their superintendent and he, like I, was pretty skeptical. But, he said [that everything] is coming through as they promised. And, the schools that have been using their solar panels in Iowa – they really got going in Iowa first – all of them have pretty much said ‘what they told us we were going to save and generate is exactly what we’re seeing.'”

The cost to build would come in at around $2,543,529 but there would be incentives to bring that total down to somewhere around $1.420,771. Wilder said that the district would have to sell bonds over a five year period and use energy credits from the excess energy produced going into the energy grid to abate the sale.

An option that board members discussed at length involved contracting out to a third party, like what school districts VIT and Spoon River Valley already do, to build them. The district would still pay a utility bill to the third party, but it would be a decrease by as much as half of their current rate. Additionally, the district would lose out on those energy credits gained from the extra solar panel output going into the grid.

One thing of note that Wilder brought up, the owner of the panels will be responsible for the replacement of cracked or broken panels.

The information provided to school board members was for a “max-fit” design, according to Wilder. Where every available inch of roof space would be available for the solar project. Additional panels could be placed on the ground if the board chose to go that route.

The panels are not permanently attached to the buildings and instead are held down by cinderblocks. He said the frames lock together to connect them. Ground panels are held in by concrete and could have 6-foot perimeter fencing.

A June 3rd special meeting was scheduled to meet with a rep from Eagle Point Solar.

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