December 20—BYRON — Along with putting in extra photo voltaic panels on the roofs of its three buildings, Byron Public Colleges will add some panels to its grounds.
The college district hopes to start putting in the panels within the spring. College officers debated the place to place the panels for a very long time as a result of not all of them could possibly be put in on the roofs. The district has been mulling the venture for greater than a yr.
“We wish as a lot photo voltaic power out there as attainable to assist alleviate our prices sooner or later,” stated Superintendent Mike Neubeck.
At the highschool, the panels will likely be positioned on the roof. On the elementary college, the panels will likely be positioned on the roof, in addition to on the bottom close to the holding pond. On the intermediate college, the panels will likely be positioned close to the roundabout on the intersection of Seventh and Tenth Streets Northeast.
Neubeck stated the district will add ground-level panels due to restrictions relating to the load-bearing capability of the roofs of the first and intermediate colleges.
“We’re nonetheless wanting on the center college,” Neubeck stated. “Due to the kind of roof it has, we won’t put any panels on it.
The district already has a number of present photo voltaic panels. Together with the brand new ones, the district will take part in a state venture referred to as Photo voltaic For Colleges, which supplies funding for some jobs. The state has allotted $8 million for colleges to put money into photo voltaic power. Byron Public Colleges obtained $102,000 in grant funds from this system.
The college district is working with the corporate iDeal Energies on the venture. In line with Neubeck, the corporate predicts the college district will save $6.3 million from the extra panels over a 40-year interval.
The district doesn’t should pay for the entrance panels. As an alternative, the district pays them again with the financial savings it will get from photo voltaic power. It will start to reap power value financial savings to the district as soon as the price of the panels is paid off.
Along with putting some panels within the floor, the method turned difficult for the district as a result of it makes use of power from Individuals’s Electrical in addition to Excel.
“As a result of we’ve two totally different (energy) corporations in our district, we’ve to take care of it in two other ways,” Neubeck stated.
