Solar Panels Expected to be Operational in November

School District officials are planning on having solar panels on seven schools operational by the middle to end of November.

Panels have been installed on four elementary schools, Packanack, Lafayette, Theunis Dey and A.P. Terhune, two middle schools, Schuyler-Colfax and Anthony Wayne, and Wayne Hills High School.

Between now and Sept. 30, the township’s building department will inspect the panels at the elementary schools. Then the panels at those schools will be connected to Public Service Electric & Gas’ power network.

The building department’s work has been slowed somewhat due to Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee hitting the town last month.

Between Oct. 1 and 15, the building department will inspect panels at the middle schools and Wayne Valley. PSE&G will then inspect the work and connect those panels.

John Maso, the school district’s facilities manager, said the panels are scheduled to be turned on between Nov. 15 and 30.

“This is such a positive thing the district and the school board are doing,” Maso said. “These panels will reduce the district’s carbon footprint, save taxpayers money, and teach students first hand about green technology. What could be better than that?”

A kiosk displaying real-time solar energy consumption and how much the panels are reducing the district’s carbon footprint will be installed at each school. Panels have been installed only on the elementary schools' roofs. Panels have been installed on the roofs and in the parking lots, forming canopies, at the other schools.

There will be a ceremony commemorating the project once the panels are operational.

The district will buy the solar energy from Nautilus Solar Energy LLC, an independent solar power producer, through a 15-year power purchase agreement. The district will only pay for the clean solar energy the panels produce, not for the panels or any installation costs. The district will still have to pay for the power it uses that is generated by fossil fuels. 

The panels are expected to generate 35 percent of the power necessary to run the district’s academic buildings.

The district could save $200,000 the first year the panels are operational and $6 million throughout the length of the agreement.

Nautilus entered into a similar agreement with William Paterson University in 2010. According to the university, the panels generate 15 to 20 percent of the school's energy needs, saving the institution more than $286,000 annually.