by Frank Schroth
The Tucker School which is an Energy Star Award winning school is the most recent school in town to install solar panels on its roof. They are being installed by the Broadway Electric Company, which just finished the installation of installing 78 photovoltaic (e.g. solar) panels. The energy savings will be significant. School officials estimate the panels to produce 22,789 kilo Watt hours of electricity or about 5% of the buildings Fiscal Year 2011 consumption. According to Matt Gillis, Assistant Superintendent for Business Affairs, the dollar savings in the first full year of operation is expected to be $2,409. Assuming NSTAR’s approval, this project is expected to be 100% operational by late November.
Gilles notes that the School department has had no capital outlay for this project. The only school department expenses were for a consultant to help with procurement and a legal review of the contract and RFP from town counsel. The developer covered the cost of the panels and their installation.
Going forward, 5% of the Tucker School’s electricity will come from renewable solar energy. Gillis estimates this energy savings is the equivalent of the greenhouse gas emissions from 3.1 passenger cars annually, 36.5 barrels of oil annually, or the CO2 emissions use from 2 homes annually. You can view the productivity of the system yourself at www.alsoenergy.com. Click on the login link in the upper right hand corner. The User name is tucker elementary (no spaces between the two words) and the password is solar.
The Tucker project is about 3% of a larger district wide project. Milton High, Pierce Middle and the Glover Elementary School are also part of this project. The total value of all projects is estimated to be $3,000,000 and total electricity produced is 878,585 kWh or 20% of the district’s total electricity use from fiscal year 2011. All projects are being overseen by Dan Griffin, PE, MHS Class of 1976 and Vice President of Broadway Electric Company.
Here is a graph of energy for Tuesday 10/25. To view current data, click on image and then “Login” in upper right corner of screen. UN = tuckerelementary and PW = solar
Snapshot of energy meter