Q&A March/April 2008 — ENERGY FOCUS
French
Since Solar Works Inc. introduced its Solar on Schools program in 1998, the company has completed more than 100 solar-electric installations at educational facilities.
Although it is difficult to install a cost-effective system without funding from incentives, Ron French, company president and chief executive officer, says schools are the perfect location for solar technology.
“Schools are absolutely the ideal environment for solar electricity systems to be deployed because more and more people will learn that it is a viable alternative,” French says. “It gets students thinking in a very positive and creative way and it makes them think about the consequences of using traditionally generated electricity.”
French spoke with School Construction News during a phone interview.
Q: Is solar technology a cost-effective solution for a school that wants to incorporate green design concepts with a renovation project?
A: Yes, but it’s very state specific because the rebates and incentives are largely state-driven. There is a large disparity between New Hampshire, where there are no incentives, and Connecticut, which has incentives that will pay 50 percent to 60 percent of the project costs.
Q: If there are no incentives, is solar technology still worthwhile for a school?
A: From an environmental and curriculum standpoint it is worthwhile, but not strictly from a financial standpoint. There is a very long payback and low rate of return over the project life.
Q: Has that return changed at all since you have been in the industry?
A: Without incentives, it has not changed a lot.
Q: Do you expect it to change in the near future?
A: The point of incentives is to help fund and make it financially viable until the cost of solar panels comes down. The theory is, if an industry and volume is created, those costs will come down.
Unfortunately, in the United States the solar market is driven on a state level and there is only a handful of states that are being progressive. It is led by California and several states in the Northeast, including New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Most of the rest of the country doesn’t participate and has very limited renewable-energy strategies.
Q: Are there any special considerations that make the Northeast unique for the solar market?
A: The thing that makes it a little bit unique is our costs for electricity are some of the highest in the country, which actually makes solar a little bit more viable. In some respects, it’s counterintuitive to people who think that the Southwest portion of the United States would be most attractive for solar. A lot of those areas have very inexpensive electricity.
The Northeast also has some environmental issues that people are dealing with, which makes solar a positive from an environmental standpoint.
Q: Is snow a factor with the systems in the Northeast?
A: Snow is a factor because it covers the modules, but outside of the very northern portions of New England, snowfall really does not impact systems that much. I live in Connecticut and if we have a storm, within a couple of days it has warmed up enough that the snow has slid of the panels and they produce electricity.
The effects of snow are calculated into the projections for the outcome of the system. A system on a school in Connecticut would have a different energy calculation than a school in northern New Hampshire.
Q: When schools start to consider solar electricity systems, how should they proceed?
A: Schools can implement solar for a number of different reasons. Some systems were done as an example of solar technology that can be integrated into the curriculum. Students could learn about renewable energy and see how the sun’s radiation impacts the production of energy over the course of the day and year. They could see that it actually does work.
More recently, schools are looking for ways to offset high utility costs. One school that we did a significant array on is the Barnard Environmental Magnet School in New Haven, Conn. The school has an 80-kilowatt system that produces about 20 percent of the electrical power. It’s a renovated school that was done with energy efficiency in mind.
There are also some schools that, because the federal program is driven by tax incentives and depreciation, consider a power-purchase agreement that allows a third party to own the array and sell the power from the array back to the school.
There can be advantages to schools that have a large roof — because they tend to be larger systems — and fairly high electricity costs.
Q: You promote three different kinds of solar technologies: photovoltaic panels, membranes and film. What are the pros and cons for schools considering those systems?
A: Most of what we do — about 95 percent — and most of what is installed in the industry is a panel product. It is the most durable and it is the least expensive. We have panels that have been installed for more than 25 years. They are the most efficient, the least cost per watt and they have longevity.
The thin, film product is lightweight and does not require any special mounting system. The film is most often made to fit in the channels of a standing seam metal roof. It has a similar cost per watt as the panel product, but you need much more square footage to generate the same amount of power.
Particularly in New England and the Northeast, where you don’t tend to have huge flat roofs and the roof space is more limited, the downside is you can’t get as much power as you would with a panel product.
The membrane product is heat-welded to an existing roof so there is no additional weight or a mounting system. The downside is, it is a bit more expensive and it is typically going to lay flat on the roof, which will allow snow to have more of an impact.
Q: What has been the biggest challenge for you in the school market?
A: Funding is the biggest challenge. The economics for solar that work for commercial buildings don’t really work the same way for an educational institution. Because schools are nonprofit, they don’t get the same benefits of the investment tax credit or the depreciation that a commercial account would see. The economics for an educational institution are not as attractive.
However, there are ways to work around the economic situation with schools with third-party ownership or fund-raisers. In some cases schools can do a fund-raiser for the project because they can identify alumni that want to do something in the realm of clean energy for the campus.
Q: Are there any other challenges?
A: Not really. I think schools represent an absolutely ideal place for solar. They tend to have large, flat roofs and I think the educational component is very important. Students learn that renewable energy is a possibility that really does work. They can see it in action.
Students become an influence on their parents and the parents become an influence on businesses. Schools are a great place to start and they are often open to new ideas. It’s a shame there is not more federal support for expanding solar in schools.