Printable VersionEditor’s note: The Lake Havasu Unified School District governing board took a first step this fall toward the possible installation of a solar system at the district’s only high school. They are currently waiting to review a contract, still in negotiations, that could jumpstart one of the largest single solar projects at a K-12 district in the state. This second story of a three-part series examines the cost savings of the potential project.
 In spring 2009, Sedona Oak Creek Unified School District installed a smaller solar system than the one being pursued within the Lake Havasu Unified School District. Submitted Photo. |
The very next month, that building used 57 percent less electricity compared to June 2008, Young said.
“We are saving energy, which equates to saving dollars on the utility bill,” Young said, who is the program manager for Arcadis, the company that headed the solar project for the Sedona Oak Creek Unified School District. “(There haven’t) been any bumps at all. In fact, it has been very smooth. We are extremely proud of what we are doing here.”
In the coming months, the Lake Havasu Unified School District governing board is waiting to review an expected contract from APS Energy Services, which could jumpstart the installation of a major solar project at the high school if signed.
The Phoenix-based Pinnacle West Corporation owns APS ES and APS, a major utility company in the state.
The slated 2.7-megawatt solar panel project is expected to generate nearly all of the power for LHHS, according to LHUSD officials.
A top-ranking state energy official said that if the system was up and running today, it would be the largest single solar system in the state other than a solar plant.
Savings
Today’s News-Herald contacted nine school districts and cities statewide that have installed solar photovoltaic panels.
Of the nine, the Sedona school district was the only one with specific data on actual energy savings.
Among the other eight entities, there were three possibilities for the data: the systems were too small and unintended to actually generate enough electricity to see a savings, the systems were too new and the data didn’t exist, or the data hadn’t been tracked.
For Big Park Community School, electricity savings after solar installation ranged between $303 a month to $3,300 a month between June, July and August, Young said.
The Sedona school system generates about 4 percent of the electricity that the LHHS would.
The savings are mainly generated because the school district is producing its own electricity, rather than buying it from a utility company, according to several officials.
But electricity production isn’t the only arena where school districts are expecting to save money from solar installation.
For the first time this year, school districts are able to enter into agreements with private companies, which, in turn, receive the tax credits and rebates for the solar design and installation.
Several school district officials said one component of the agreement freezes the utility rate for the district for up to 20 years.
A similar provision is expected in the LHHS contract.
The price of electricity for residential, commercial and industrial users increased between 39 percent and 50 percent since 1995, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Today’s News-Herald was unable to confirm the projected cost of electricity in 20 years.
School officials have previously said they pay roughly $525,000 annually in electricity bills for LHHS. The average electric bill for LHHS for August and September was $44,877.30, according to a review of those bills.
Today’s News-Herald previously reported that the expected contract could lock the district in to utility bill payments of $500,000 annually for the first 10 years, and then drop down to $325,000 each year for the second decade of the project’s financing.
Net generation
Arizona solar rules allow school districts to generate 100 percent of their electricity from the sun, and no more than an additional 25 percent on top of that.
If the LHHS project moves forward and if the solar system generates more electricity than what the high school needs, the additional energy would most likely be credited to their account, according to UniSource Energy Services spokesman Joe Salkowski. The Tucson-based company is the energy provider for the high school.
The energy term for that credit is net metering.
And then once a year, the bill is rectified, meaning if LHHS used more energy than it generated or was credited, it would owe the utility company; but, if LHHS produced more energy and credits than what it needed, the utility company would purchase the excess — but most likely at a much lower cost than what the district pays for its electricity.
For example, the district might pay 9 cents per kilowatthour, but the utility company may purchase credits for 3.1 cents per kilowatthour, as set by the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state body that governs utility regulations, Salkowski said. Those rates change annually, he added.
A kilowatthour measures how much electricity is used for one hour.
David Peterson, assistant superintendent for the Scottsdale Unified School District, said they sized their three solar systems so that they wouldn’t over-generate electricity. The largest system at the district is one megawatt.
“I don’t want to over-generate and have to pay too much into the system,” he said. “That is why you never want to oversize it.”
Jim Migliorino, executive director of fiscal services for the Deer Valley Unified School District, also said they didn’t want their one-megawatt solar system to produce too much electricity.
“We didn’t want to net generate,” he said. “The system essentially does not produce electricity that we can’t consume at any given time. It was just an expensive venture to net generate.”
ACC Chairwoman Kris Mayes said adopting the net metering standards was “a hard fought battle.”
“Well, it’s money,” she said. “It’s a credit. At the end of the year, if they still have credits, the utility has to cut them a check. They get money. I fought for a higher amount, trust me. I got a lot of push back (from utility companies). They were not happy with what they have to give. It was up to them, they would not have to do any net metering.”
Part 3 of 3 of the Lake Havasu High School solar series will examine funding for the project.
You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com.
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