More Solar Panels?

What was once innovative is now just good practice in Branford

Within Connecticut Town & City, we often end up tracing trends from one project to dozens – so many, sometimes, that the idea ceases to be innovative and becomes a standard operating procedure. Putting solar panels on schools is one such idea. The large flat roofs on most public schools are perfect locations for solar panels, and so naturally, one, then another, two more, three, five, eight, and soon many, many more. While these projects are no longer innovative, there is still room for innovation – that is the ease of installing and paying for them. It’s an easy win, and no wonder that Governor Lamont and the State Legislature are finally asking how to make it easier to install.

Governor Lamont, who appeared at Mary Tisko Elementary School in Branford said that right now, just about 300 public schools in Connecticut have solar panels, just under two per municipality. He wants to push those numbers up with a bill that will encourage schools to install solar and increase the reimbursement for schools that do.

As has so often appeared in the pages of this magazine, the figures of savings are borderline incredible. The Branford school is expected to save $200,000 over the next 20 years alone. In some towns and cities where solar is being placed on multiple buildings, the savings reach into the millions over the projected lifetime of the installation. But there are issues with how the state manages solar installation.

According to House Bill 5052, the state’s non-residential solar program has caps on the quantity of solar generation that can be installed each year. It’s even better if the state can align its mandates with funds –in his memo on the bill, the Governor says that “This bill aligns school building project funding with existing energy program initiatives so communities can capture state funds for renewable energy efficiency at the same time they are renovating or constructing their school, without those communities being penalized for aggressively seeking outside funding.”

Municipalities are often leading the way. Towns and cities have been installing solar on their schools for years – you don’t get to 300 schools without making it a trend. Branford’s Tisko Elementary is just one of hundreds of schools that are going to save hundreds of thousands of dollars thanks to these installments. In a way, it’s time to open up the flood gates on these improvements and let municipalities save money.