North Stafford High School’s rooftop array will save system $2.8M
CATHY DYSON – The Free Lance–Star
Stafford County officials and high school students joined with state senators and a White House economist Thursday to unveil Virginia’s largest school solar array. The group held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 1.8-megawatt project that consists of 3,300 solar panels and is located on the rooftop of North Stafford High School. It’s expected to save the school system an estimated $2.8 million in electric bills over the next 25 years, generate 54 million kilowatt hours of clean energy and and offset 41,583 tons of carbon dioxide, according to a news release.
It also serves as a powerful teaching tool for students, said Chris Fulmer, acting superintendent of Stafford County Public Schools. “Through this project, students are learning the real-world benefits of renewable energy and how it contributes to a sustainable future,” he said. “Today’s ribbon cutting marks an exciting step forward for our school and community.”
The ceremony included remarks from Dr. Heather Boushey, chief economist for the Investing in America Cabinet at the White House; Virginia senators Tara Durant and Jeremy McPike, and several members of the Stafford Board of Supervisors and School Board.
Stafford schools started the planning process in 2020 for the array, which is a collection of solar panels, then began installation in February. The school system worked with Sun Tribe Solar of Charlottesville, which developed the project, then sold the concept to Madison Energy Infrastructure, which has headquarters in New York.
MEI was responsible for construction and operation. Rich Allevi, its vice president of energy solutions, said the “monumental project” has implications for schools across Virginia. “This project at North Stafford High School will pave the way for a greener outlook while serving as an inspirational model for other school districts across the state and nation,” he said.
Maureen Siegmond, chair of the Stafford School Board, said the rooftop array represents “a significant milestone for our school division.” Pamela Yeung, a member of the Stafford Board of Supervisors, said the effort is good, not just for North Stafford, but the county as a whole. “This project exemplifies how we can inspire environmental stewardship in our students and the broader community,” she said.
Students will engage with MEI’s Solar Empowered Schools curriculum, which integrates real-time data from the solar panels into energy and science lessons. Students already have begun participating in MEI’s interactive learning opportunities, including solar-empowered school modules and virtual tours of the rooftop.
North Stafford High School was chosen for the solar array because its flat roof was replaced about six years ago and should last as long as the solar panels. The school also was ideal because it’s all-electric, which means a “bigger bang for the buck,” Josh Schimpf, energy management and regulatory compliance coordinator for Stafford schools, said in March.
Comment: This was a front page article in my local paper yesterday. Both my sons graduated from North Stafford High so this article interested me. This is the largest solar array on a school rooftop in Virginia. Unfortunately the article is only available to paid subscribers, so I present the entire article with attribution. However an article on the “elektrek” website covered the installation.
A second article by the Free Lance-Star’s Cathy Dyson was even more generally interesting. She covered a Stafford town hall sponsored by the Rappahannock Sierra Club concerning the impending construction of five or more data centers in Stafford. One question addressed was why there isn’t a regional or state body to negotiate with these data center behemoths like Google and Amazon. The answer wasn’t surprising. Our counties are competing with each other to get these lucrative data centers. Another question was water usage. An industry representative explained that water usage in modern data centers is far less than it once was. That should not be a stopper. An article a few weeks ago detailed how one of the data centers approved for construction, the Potomac Church Tech Center, will used water from one of our waste water treatment facilities for much of the center’s water needs and the owners will construct the three mile water line to connect the treatment plant with the data center. That should be a good deal for Stafford.
The third big question brought up at this town hall was energy requirements. There’s no good answer for this. The industry representatives said newer data centers are much more energy efficient than older centers, but proliferation of data centers in Stafford and in other Virginia communities will still require more power than is currently produced. The cost of constructing new power plants and transmission lines will most likely be passed on to consumers. That’s the standard industry practice. We already pay a surcharge on our electric bills for the offshore wind power project being constructed off Norfolk. Proffers for the approved Potomac Church Tech Center include plans for the necessary electrical substation and lines connecting to the existing nearby high power transmission lines, but the need for additional power is not addressed. That will no doubt those costs will show up my utility bills. Perhaps Stafford should require Google and Amazon to build some of those solar projects like on North Stafford High on their data centers to help offset the overall energy requirements.
TTG
https://electrek.co/2024/09/13/virginias-largest-solar-array-on-a-school-rooftop-just-came-online/
As several people mentioned in the articles’ comments: School buildings are great places for solar installations. Lots of square footage since they are generally single story, sometimes two. Plus little or no night time need for electricity.
Gotta wonder what cut of the 1.8-MW will be taken by Madison Energy Infrastructure that did the construction? Does their take last forever or is there a timeline? If there is any power left over that isn’t sucked up by MEI, could it be sold to the local electric utility? Or some other way to generate income if the school does not use their entire allotment? Lots of wasted space in the parking lots, why not add power by building carports and placing solar panels on top?
Pointless unless Bitcoin mining is quashed.
Leith,
Virginia law states the utility must buy excess energy from solar energy, so at least during the summer when the school is closed the utility will be cutting some serious checks to someone. https://www.dominionenergy.com/virginia/renewable-energy-programs/net-metering
MEI’s main selling point seems to be zero investment from the user, so it’s a pretty fair bet they intend on making a profit from the excess energy. I don’t have the time to delve deeply into their sales spiel but here’s a link to the non-fine print portion anyway.
https://www.madisonei.com/mei-plus
Mark Logan,
That makes sense to me. I knew MEI had to make a profit out this deal somehow. Maybe that why the school will save some percentage (whatever 2.8 million over 24 years works out to be) rather than 100% plus profit from selling energy back to the electric company. Still sounds like a good deal.
Amending to add:
It would seem from a cursory review their gig is they own the system, not the school. They install and maintain. The company gets the long term profits from excess power while the school district, for zero investment, gets their power bills cut, hopefully to nothing I imagine. No need for the district to have to beg the government for money to install? Clever.
Leith, a couple yrs ago I recall that in Japan there was a shopping center where parking lot was covered with raised solar panels. In addition to elect power for shopping center, cars were parking in shade underneath.
Ald –
They have the same at my grandson’s high school.
Maybe the ultra wealthy will start putting them on their mansions? I always wondered if it ever crossed Obama’s mind how nice these would look on his Martha’s Vineyard home and great for energy conservation to boot. Unfortunately it looks like solar panels are by and large for the poor and really ignorant.
babelthuap,
I see them on large middle class housing down here, never on poorer houses. It’s an expensive initial investment. I remember Carter putting them on the White House and Reagan promptly removing them. GW Bush installed some again in 2003 and Obama upgraded them in 2013.
I did not say middle class or upper middle. Read what I wrote. I said ultra wealthy. You are trying to downgrade my point. There is nothing to downgrade. Look in the mirror and then think about it.
Why doesn’t Obama, Bill Gates, Oprah with her 11 homes have solar panels? Think about it. Think about it hard then remove your bias for solar panels. There is a reason why they don’t have these on their homes. I would say it more directly but you need to figure it out on your own. Once you do that then you will understand what is going on. You probably will not figure it out though but at least give it a shot.
babelthuap,
Both Obama and Gates have solar panels on their residences. It’s not because they need to save money on energy. I don’t know about Oprah. Gates is building a solar farm, but that not his personal residence. People want them on their middle income houses to save money.
TTG,
It only saves money if they get subsidized to begin with and don’t have to pay disposal costs. If they were saving money they wouldn’t need subsidies, neither would EV buyers.
“Estimated at” and what are the legal obligations when reality is different from the estimate? I’m sure the school tax will rise to cover the cost. Yet another government funded start up. At least they lock in the locals to multi year obligations.
Fred,
I have yet to find what Stafford will pay to MEI for the solar array. My guess is that a portion of those energy cost savings will be going to MEI to lease the array. We’ll know when the school budget is submitted. I doubt this project will be what causes our taxes to rise. We don’t pay separate school taxes here.
TTG,
“We’ll know when the school budget is submitted.”
The school board agreed to a 25 year obligation without knowing the actual cost? They should all be voted out of office for that and the management team fired. There needs to be an exit clause in all those contracts for non-performance (including financial). This is reminiscent of Ann Arbor’s natural gas busses (never achieved their stated objectives and were more costly) and Gainesville’s (FL) regional utilities investment in wood fired power plants. The latter is still footing the bill for that boondoggle.
Fred,
I’m sure Stafford County knows what they spent, but it’s not in any of the articles I’ve read.
We put in solar panels six years ago and have not paid for electricity since. That has saved us an average of $300/mo. It is also nice to be able to heat up the spa on nice winter days.
Lars,
How big a house do you have that would require $300+ a month in an electric bill? Why on earth would you ever use electricity to heat a spa rather than natural gas? How much did the tax payers have to subsidize you for to install all that stuff that give 100% of the benefit to you?
You will pay for it. They do not last forever and have to be cleaned. This will become a problem for the elderly, especially on fixed incomes. It will not work. I see this all the time in real estate. The elderly can’t afford to upkeep their homes and let things go. Solar panels will absolutely be the first thing to go. From there it’s fences, painting, siding. It starts slow then boom. The home is in disrepair and falling apart. This may not be you but it will be the situation for most elderly people, especially in this economy. I see this daily.
https://t.me/proeconomics/15122
Western economists have come to terms with the fact that the growth in demand for oil in China has passed. There will only be a decline from now on. Thus, in August 2024, compared to August 2023, China’s oil imports were 7% lower. And this is despite the fact that China processes part of the imported oil at refineries and sends oil products for export in its macro-region.
The main reason is the electromobilization of passenger vehicles and the conversion of trucks and special equipment from diesel to gas, i.e. a decrease in demand for motor fuel.
But China will need more electricity, including for electric vehicles. Part of this increase will come from renewable energy sources, and the other part from gas. There will also be demand for coal, since the main electricity generation in China is currently built on it.
We have a rather large house in FL that has the A/C running for many months. I have a heat pump for the pool and spa, which costs a whole lot less to run than gas. I build up enough credits to be able to use to heat the spa. Most of the solar panels were covered by insurance. I had to get a new roof after Hurricane Irma and I had plenty of experience dealing with insurance companies in the early 2000’s, so while it took awhile to play their games, eventually they had to choose between me or a lawyer. At the time, there was a tax credit for installing solar panels, so of course I took advantage of that too. But what we had to put up has been returned in monthly savings. As I sometimes joke, in a bad year we have 360 days of sunshine.