Hopatcong Schools to Flip Solar Switch Soon

After months of delays, Hopatcong's school district expects to flip the switch on its solar-power system within the next week, Director of Grounds Neil Piro said Monday.

The district, which will host a symbolic switch-flipping ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday at the solar field behind the , still hopes to reap millions of dollars of savings with the project, Business Administrator Theresa Sierchio said.

Under a 15-year power-purchasing agreement with solar manufacturer SP-One and energy provider Sun Edison, about to 90 percent of the district's building will receive solar energy at a rate of 5 cents per kilowatt hour—about a third of its current Jersey Central Power & Lights rate of 14.9 cents. The companies will also maintain the systems throughout the contract.

As part of the deal, the district also received an estimated $500,000 worth of new roofs at and .

Overall, Hopatcong will save about $3 million over the length of the contract, which began in January 2011, Sierchio said.

But it won't get the estimated $175,000 it hoped to save during the 2011-2012 school year. Poor fall weather, including Hurricane Irene and an October snowstorm that knocked out most of the district's power for four days, and financial negotiations between SP-One, Sun Edison and JCP&L pushed the solar project from its initial September finish date, Sierchio and Piro said.

Sierchio said the district's solar deal, which will power every building except , was among the best the state has seen.

"This is huge," she said. "We are regarded as being the luckiest people in the state of New Jersey on this end of the deal. Nobody has gotten a deal like this.

"This is just a huge, huge savings for this community."

Piro said he'll be "very pleased" when the solar fields behind the senior center and atop two schools start working.

"It's been a long haul," he said. "It will be great once it's turned on. I'm very happy about it. I'm very proud of it. I have nothing but positive feelings toward the project."

Piro said Hopatcong's construction officials helped the district move the project along.

"None of this could have happened without the planning board, zoning board and construction official and his team," Piro said. They have been super cooperative if their rush to finish this thing."

The benefits aren't all financial, the district said in a press release.

Hopatcong will implement the solar-power system into its science curriculum at several schools, the release said. The project will also avoid an estimated 3,103,202 pounds of carbon emissions each year—the equivalent of taking 269 vehicles off the road or preserving 300 acres of forest.

"It will significantly decrease carbon emissions and greatly contribute toward achieving our long-term sustainability goals,” Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said. “In addition, with this project, we demonstrate to our students, faculty and the community that the Board of Education is doing all that it can to cut costs and prudently utilize its available funds.”

“This is a great moment for the citizens of Hopatcong and our schools,” Maranzano said, “and it will place Hopatcong schools in the forefront of solar energy for the next two decades.”

What do you think of Hopatcong's solar project? Tell us in the comments.