Dixon board prez won’t hedge: Put solar panels below ledge

DIXON – Would rooftop solar panels be visible above the crenelated profile of Dixon High School?

From the ground looking up, the answer is “no.”

“I know we talked about this at the last meeting,” said Linda Wegner, president of the Dixon Public Schools Board. “I just want to hear it again. I’ve had questions about solar panels at the high school.”

[ Future Green makes initial proposal to install solar at Dixon Public Schools. ]

Solar panels, if installed, would sit upon the flat section of the roof above the auditorium, the new gym and the north wing, said Kevin Schultz, who is in charge of buildings and grounds. There would be no solar panels on the peaked tile roof.

Business manager Marc Campbell has been in negotiations with Econergy – and it’s not-for-profit arm Future Green – to install panels at all the district campuses at no cost to the district.

He said a full engineering evaluation still must be conducted. Future Green will inspect the structure of the roofs to ensure they can support the solar panel mounts and establish other parameters.

“Things can change,” said Campbell, who seemed to indicate that if solar panels marred the profile of the school, it would be a deal-breaker. “If they were visible, we wouldn’t move forward.”

Schultz repeated the description that he made during Future Green’s initial presentation to the board back on Oct. 3 – that from the highest points of the school looking down out a window, panels would be visible below. But from the ground looking up, the ledges and crenelations actually would mask the panels.

Effectively, the roof is lower than the profile provided by the surrounding ledges.

“It keeps it below the height of the parapet. It will set in there,” Schultz said.

Campbell said that since the Oct. 3 meeting, he has received a request from a local electrical union asking to be part of the process. He confirmed the Econergy uses local unions in the construction.

“That is a positive communication,” Campbell said, “that there should be local representation in the labor force.”

During the discussion, Wegner reiterated a point made Oct. 3: According to the proposal, Future Green would include Dixon Public Schools in a consortium of schools. Future Green then would bargain on behalf of the consortium for the purchase of energy at a rate lower than what the school districts can get as single entities.

The combination of being a solar energy producer and the lower rates for the balance of their energy needs would result in almost $2 million in savings over the length of the 25-year agreement.

The district would like to vote on the proposal during its Nov. 16 meeting. In the meantime, it will engage in an information campaign with the community about the proposal.

According to the proposal from Future Green, it would install solar panels on developed campus properties including the administrative office on Franklin Grove Road, the high school, Jefferson and Washington elementaries and Reagan Middle School.

Rooftop solar arrays would be placed on the roofs of the school buildings, with the exception of the middle school. In Reagan’s case, the company would build an array on the ground because the rooftop is older and because the total area of the roof isn’t sufficiently large enough to meet the building’s total energy needs.

Schultz said it’s possible Jefferson might have a combination of rooftop and ground arrays.

As proposed, the ground array at Reagan would produce the biggest savings of all the sites. Its 365-kilowatt system would produce 539,809 kwh and have a first-year savings of $19,300, Future Green said in its presentation.

In comparing the arrays, the high school would have first-year savings of $16,300, Jefferson $5,100, Washington $7,600 and the administrative building $3,200.