Springfield school district eyes net-metering

Green Lantern Group, a Waterbury, Vermont-based solar company, has approached the Springfield School District (SSD) about several options regarding supplementing the district’s electric bill with solar options.

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2017-06-30 / Front Page Springfield school district eyes net-metering By KELSEY CHRISTENSEN kchristensen@eagletimes.com SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Green Lantern Group, a Waterbury, Vermont-based solar company, has approached the Springfield School District (SSD) about several options regarding supplementing the district’s electric bill with solar options. The simpler of the two options in discussion is one which would allow the district to sign up for net-metering. Currently, the town of Springfield boasts a solar array on Fairbanks Road, which possesses more capacity than was estimated at the time of its development. Green Lantern is offering for Springfield to buy credits at a discount, which would result in estimated savings of $2,700 per year. The school district would have to enter into a 20-year contract, but there are no up-front costs for the district, and they would begin to see the benefits of the deal immediately, according to company officials. “It sounds too good to be true,” said Ralph Meima, director of development for the Green Lantern Group. “People get a bit skeptical.” Net-metering works by taking the unused power of an array — like Springfield’s Fairbanks array — and rewarding energy credits accordingly. Because solar panels may produce more energy than they are consuming on sunny days, and consuming more than they produce on cloudy days, Green Mountain Power applies energy credits when excess solar is fed back into the grid. Put another way, when a solar user is a net producer, they earn credits, and when a solar user is a net consumer, their credits are used to subsidize their electric bill. Net-metering also allows entities, like a school district, to sign up for energy credits without making the investment in a physical array. Because the Fairbanks Road array is currently producing more than it is consuming, the Springfield School District could absorb some of the credits that the town of Springfield doesn’t, or can’t, use. And, in this case, Green Lantern is offering to bill credits to the district at a discount. However, Green Lantern has offered up an additional deal: connecting the district to a 500 kilowatt grid that isn’t already assigned to another entity, which could save $15,000 in the district’s electrical costs annually. Currently, Vermont law limits the amount of solar one entity can consume to a 500 KW array. “I don’t think that rule is helpful for reaching Vermont’s 90 percent [green energy] by 2050 goal,” said Meima. However, it is not clear whether a district is one entity, or if a school is one entity. Based on Meima’s calculations, SSD’s energy appetite would require 2.5 500 KW arrays, equalling annual energy savings of $37,000. SSD discussed solar power and net metering three years ago, when the district decided to become a consortium with other schools and bid the provider out. Unfortunately, the provider, SunEdison, won the bid by offering too large of a discount — 35 to 36 percent — and the company subsequently went bankrupt. “None of the fields in that consortium package were ever built,” said Superintendent Zach McLaughlin. “But we’ve been approached with opportunities to re-enter that field.” The terms of a solar deal have changed quite a bit since 2015, when the school district first started making moves towards solar. What was once a much larger discount is now only 10 percent, and where once the school district could have utilized as many solar arrays as they needed, there are now regulations on how much solar one entity can consume. “The school district has already gone through a bad experience,” Meima said. “We hope they’re willing to make the commitment.” The school board didn’t finalize any decisions Monday, but Steve Hier, director of fiscal services, will request proposals and present those offers by Aug. 7. “There are two vendors we’re aware of submitting that will be submitting those propositions to us. There’s no standard approach — it’s what you folks are comfortable with,” Hier said, explaining that the board is not obligated to select the lowest bid. Board members were split on the urgency of the issue during the meeting. “I’m for savings,” said Steve Karaffa. “But I’m not going to jump without information.” Michael Griffin, on the other hand, doesn’t want to miss out. “I’d hate to lose the opportunity,” he said. However, Meima assures that there’s no pressure on the timing. Because Green Lantern has 15 to 20 active solar projects at any given time, another interested entity could simply buy credits from a different array. “I really want the school board to have a first crack at this,” he said.