Board of Ed: We're Looking into Solar Power

The Board of Education hopes to move Hopatcong's school system into a sunnier future.

Literally.

The board OK'ed Neil Piero, the school's head of facilities, to start soliciting offers from energy companies last week in the first step toward possibly installing solar panels to power the district as a cost-saving measure.

"It's worth looking at," Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said.

Piero spoke for about 20 minutes at last Monday's Board of Ed meeting at the administration building about the potential benefits of solar energy, namely saving money on district electrical bills and even getting a few schools new roofs.

And while nothing is certain, Piero sounded excited by the potential of new technology.

"That's the gist of this whole green movement — to save the planet," he said.

"But we can't move forward without getting basic information from the people actually investing the money in the solar panels."

Piero cited previous estimates, saying solar energy could help save the district up to $750,000 in its first five years and $13 million over 25.  He also said the district could enter a power-purchase agreement with a company, promising to buy its electricity providing the company helped fund new roofs for some schools.

Piero said new roofs would probably be necessary if panels were placed atop schools because many roofs in the Hopatcong system are outdated and repairing one beneath a solar panel would be expensive and time consuming.

Board member Joan Reilly was all for seeking proposals.

"It would save us so much money over the years and it wouldn't cost us a thing at the beginning," she said.

Business administrator Theresa Sierchio agreed.

"Something like this is a huge opportunity," she said. "We may not get the reduction in cost of the electricity of that building. But we'll have a million-dollar roof."

Maranzano said the district planned to wait, hoping the borough would be able to change the Flora Avenue landfill into solar farm, which the schools would also use. But progressed has stalled, and the district wants to move ahead and explore creating a solar farm for itself.

So the board has been accepting proposals since it put out an advertisement Wednesday to see if a solar-energy plan would be economically viable.

"There could be a lot of benefits and opportunities that we could actually achieve with solar power," Piero said. "There's a number of things we've been told. But in the absence of something firm, it's just conversation."