A proposed rooftop solar project at Concord Middle School in Massachusetts is still advancing even though the district did not land a state grant worth about $1.4 million.
Concord officials are now looking at a privately financed approach that could still allow the installation to begin during summer break.
What happened?
At a May 20 School Committee meeting, Concord Municipal Light Plant Director Jason Bulger said the district was not awarded a state Green School Works grant that could have contributed about $1.4 million, The Concord Bridge reported. The funding had been sought for a solar array on the Ellen Garrison Building, home to Concord Middle School.
Competition for the program was steep, with 61 applications requesting a combined $138 million, even though only $19 million was available, The Concord Bridge reported.
Bulger said many of the awards instead went to school heating and cooling work tied to ground-source heat pumps rather than solar. "Even though they touted solar and energy storage as a main component of this grant, it seems like they were focused in other directions," Bulger said.
Why does it matter?
To avoid restarting a standard bidding process, Concord Municipal Light Plant is weighing a power purchase agreement with a solar developer. In that setup, the developer would cover the cost of the rooftop system, build it, and retain ownership, while the light plant would purchase the electricity the panels produce.
For the school district, that would mean no upfront spending, while construction problems and tax-credit exposure would fall to the developer instead.
The revised plan is now limited to rooftop panels, as earlier ideas for parking-lot canopies and batteries were dropped due to cost concerns and issues with exporting excess electricity to the grid. If an agreement comes together soon, some developers already have materials on hand, and Bulger planned to bring pricing and responsibility details to the Light Board on June 18.
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What are people saying?
On the private-developer approach, Bulger said it would protect the district from upfront costs and liability, stating, "If they don't produce the power, we don't pay," according to The Concord Bridge.
And while legal, insurance, and scheduling questions still need to be worked out, Bulger said there is still a way to move quickly this summer: "We have not yet missed that window."
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