Canton Will Be Lighting Up With Solar Power

Canton schools are taking a cue from the town's and pitching in to save energy. Earlier this month, the approved a solar project that will add solar panels to some school buildings' roofs and cut the district's electric bill.

Representatives from Kearsarge Energy and Johnston Controls presented their solar proposal to the Canton School Committee. Through a federal grant, the company partners with nonprofits to add solar energy and cut spending on electric costs.

Kearsarge will install solar panels on several of the schools' roofs. The company will lease the space from the schools, then provide electricity at reduced costs, Managing Partner Andrew Bernstein told the school committee.

Installing the panels, which are owned and maintained by Kearsarge, will not cost a cent for the schools, he noted. There is no environmental risk and the panels actually help melt snow in the winter time, he said.

Jim Cotton, Regional K12 Manager of Johnston Controls said the panels, which sit eight to ten inches off of the roof, will not be visible from the street level. There will be no visible impact to the schools, he said.

The company examined roofs of all the school buildings and identified three that would work, Cotton said. The high school, the Galvin and the Luce would be part of the project, he said.

In the first year, Canton would save $22, 682 in electric costs, and over a 20-year period, the schools would save $685,372.

NSTAR’s cost next year will be $.14 kwh. This year it’s $.12 kwh, Bernstein said. With this solar program, electricity would cost $.095 kwh, he said.

Installation would take place in March 2012, depending upon the weather, and the commercial operation would begin in May 2012, he told the board.

With the installation of solar panels on the schools, in addition to the on the old landfill, Canton would be a leading community in clean energy in the state. 

"It's unprecedented," Cotton said of the town's solar projects.