Solar panels to save Sewanhaka $250K each year – The Island Now

A little light could mean big bucks for the Sewanhaka Central High School District.

With the installation of solar panels at its five high schools in the final stages, the district is projecting that theywill cut its energy costs by $250,000 each year, according to a news release.

The district has finished installingthe panels at New Hyde Park Memorial High School, Elmont Memorial High School and H. Frank Carey High School in Franklin Square.Floral Park Memorial High School and Sewanhaka High School will have them before the start of the next school year in September, the district said.

The panels are part of a larger project to cut the districts energy costs under an energy savings performance contract, an arrangement in which future savings pay for the necessary hardware and construction. Altogether the work could save the district nearly $950,000 annually, the district says.

The goal of all of these measures was to be environmentally conscious and to save money, Ralph Ferrie, the districtsuperintendent, said in the news release.

Other cost-cuttingprojects includeinstalling new energy-efficient lighting, revamping heating and air-conditioning systems and using other strategies to cut electricity use, according to district documents.

Some of the savings are showing up already. In April 2012, before the workstarted, New Hyde Park Memorial High School racked up an energy bill of $11,319.50, the district said. It was down about $9,100 in April of this yearto $2,203.22.

District officials have said the solar panels will generate 35 percent of that schools energy. Once all the panels are installed, the district says, it will be one of the largest solar energy producers in the state.

Utilizing green power is reducing our electrical costs, James Reddan, a Sewanhaka school board trustee from the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park school district, said in an email. When all 5 high schools are fully functional we should see a dramatic reduction in energy costs.

The district approved the energy performance contract with NORESCO, aMassachusetts-based energy services firm, in May 2015.

Under the agreement, the firm installs the energy-saving equipment in exchange for a portion of the money thats saved as a result. The companyguarantees the district will save a projected amount of money and makes up the difference if thesavings fall short.

A 2014 auditby state Comptroller Thomas DiNapolis office of nine energy performance contracts in eight school districtsquestioned the pacts efficacy.

Seven of the nine projects achieved projected savings, but only six of those saved as much as their contracting firm projected, the audit says. And most of the savings camefrom grants or state money that helped fund them.

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Solar panels to save Sewanhaka $250K each year - The Island Now