Greenfield school district, others look to solar power to cut costs
| Sunday, Jun 13 2010 12:00 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Jun 13 2010 12:00 PM
School districts throughout Kern County are hoping to save thousands of dollars a year on energy costs by contracting with companies offering solar power.
The latest plan is coming out of Greenfield Union School District in south Bakersfield. The district hopes to have companies install solar panels on top of roofs of nearly all 11 campuses (Ollivier Middle School is excluded because of efficiency concerns).
Instead of paying PG&E for power, as it does now, the district would pay the solar power provider installing the panels directly under the plan. The move could save the district more than $50,000 a year, and $4.6 million after 20 years, Superintendent Chris Crawford said.
"We are really excited about this," Crawford said. "There are the savings, and it allows us to budget our power costs."
Greenfield trustees earlier in the week heard a presentation from Enfinity, a solar energy company of investors, and Garland Energy Systems, a solar panel provider and consulting resource.
Trustees have given Crawford the OK to draw up an action item school board members could vote on later this month. If approved, the panels would be installed at no cost to the district under the contract.
At the meeting, trustees asked how the panels would look, whether they would affect roof warranties and most importantly, how much the district could save. The district paid PG&E about $800,000 for