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here:Five Cuyahoga County school districts will soon get a share of their energy needs from the sun.
The county’s Solar for Schools program will provide $100,000 each to school systems in East Cleveland, Maple Heights, Euclid, Cuyahoga Heights and one other district yet to be named.
Each district is planning to install panels at their high schools, said Valerie Katz, interim director of sustainability for Cuyahoga County. In most cases, the arrays will go on rooftops, with one site considering a ground-mounted installation.
The size of each solar array has yet to be determined, but the average will be about 200 kilowatts.
The capacity may be affected by how much each district is able to contribute toward the cost, Katz said, with each district expected to recover its upfront expenditures in four to six years.
She said it will take further analysis before the schools know how much of their energy costs will be offset by the solar power.
The U.S. Department of Energy is putting up the money for the installations in the form of Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grants. The county will sub-grant the funds to the school districts.
A local green bank operated by
Growth Opportunity Partners will provide an additional $50,000 per school district in the form of a forgivable loan, Katz said.
Solar United Neighbors is a national group with an Ohio chapter that helps organize homeowners into co-ops that negotiate contracts with solar installers.
The Solar for Schools program intends to select one vendor to do all five schools to take advantage of the economies of bulk purchasing.
“What we’re trying to do is kind of create a footprint,” Katz said, that will make it easier to expand existing arrays or add new ones to additional schools in the future.
The process can be complicated given the number of installers to choose from and the option to either own your panels or buy the power from a third-party that owns the panels, Katz said. It’s expected the school districts will own their own panels and be able to take advantage of tax credits.
Charlie Keenan, the retiring superintendent of the Maple Heights City School District, said taking advantage of solar power is something his district has been thinking about for a while.
‘It’s a neat opportunity,” he said.
The Solar fo Schools program sought schools to participate that are racially and income diverse, with perhaps higher than average levels of air pollution and not a lot of solar power present in their neighborhoods, Katz said.
She said it’s hoped that the schools will incorporate their solar arrays into lesson plans for students, such as those in science or vocational classes.
More than 7,300 schools, kindergarten through 12th grade, across the country have solar installations, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. The arrays to by installed through Solar for Schools will be the first to go on public schools in Cuyahoga County, Katz said.
Those installations could start later this year, she said.