Solar Panels Bring Ray of Optimism

The Ledyard school board’s Facilities and Land Use Committee is exploring the possibility of installing solar panels on each of the disrict’s five schools.

"I was directed to look into it further and report back," said Maintenance Director Sam Kilpatrick, who said the committee made no formal recommendation at its monthly meeting Tuesday.

Nevertheless, he said members generally favored the idea, both as a way to reduce energy costs and also for the educational opportunity that using a renewable "green" energy source provides.

“I think the educational value for the schools is even greater than the financial value,” said Mayor Fred B. Allyn Jr., who spearheaded the solar panel program in Ledyard a year ago. “One of the things we want to do is let people be able to monitor online what the solar panels are doing on any available day.”

Solar panels now glint in the sunlight on municipal buildings across town. Last year, Glastonbury-based DCS Energy installed the panels on town hall, the senior center, the police station, and the public works salt shed.

The Bill Library received a set of solar panels earlier this year.

The panels are still too new to give an accurate reading of their effect. But those that have been working throughout the summer months are beginning to show that the reduction to the town’s energy bill could be significant.

Early returns are promising

According to Allyn, town hall used 32 percent fewer kilowatt-hours from June 21 to July 21 than it did over the same period last year. Energy use at the Public Works facility also declined more than 20 percent, he said. 

But Allyn cautioned that data must be gathered over a longer period and analyzed in order to distinguish the impact of the solar panels from other changes made to town buildings. For example, new air conditioning installed at the town hall this year may also have reduced the energy bill.

Public Works Director Steve Masalin agreed. “To say what we saved and how much would be tough. We’d have to look at the invoices and see what the changes are.”

The schools were not included in the solar panel program last year because the rules used to administer the federally funded program precluded flat roofs. That rule has since been changed to allow installation on flat roofs.

Despite the lack of a formal recommendation, Kilpatrick said application has been made for additional panels on the schools in order to meet a Sept. 1 application deadline.

Since the solar panel program was first utilized in 2010 in Salem and Ledyard, it has been embraced by other towns in the region, including Groton and Stonington.

As with the first installation, the new panels would be paid for by federal stimulus money. The only cost to the town so far has been the labor to cut a trench at the public works salt shed, and the cost to conduct structural analyses to ensure the roofs can support the panels.