Schools

Solar Panels Coming to Watchung School

Project at Bayberry School should help district save on energy costs.

Residents driving by may have noticed the new solar installation system going up, which is expected to be pumping out electricity by the time school starts.

The project is among the county's ongoing efforts to help municipalities and school districts save by installing the systems. Somerset County has financed the installation and panels through a bond issue, and now a growing number of municipalities are realizing the savings.

Along with Bayberry's system, Warren Township's Angelo L. Tomaso and middle schools have systems coming on line soon—meanwhile, Green Brook schools have been counting the benefits since similar roof solar systems were installed on and the a year ago.

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Watchung Board of Education members oogled plans for the Bayberry project at their July 31 meeting, and board President Charles Neiss said the system should provide enough electrical output to power 14 typical homes.

"We really won't see the savings until next year," he said.

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How anxious should residents be about the potential for savings? Plenty, if other towns' experience is typical.

The county's study of the potential prior to approving Bayberry's system estimated a total output of 254.85 kW annually from the system, but other systems have been pumping out even more than the projections forecast.

Thank the many sunny days of the last year, or just cautious estimates, but some towns are getting results more than 20 percent better than projections in some cases—the Manville School District is expected to save about $10,000 more than the $36,400 estimated with its 439.54 kW system.  

“This difference in savings is attributed to a slight increase in the size of the constructed systems and the conservative assumptions that were utilized during the planning stages of this project,” Somerset County Engineer Michael Amorosa said.

Green Brook schools haven't conducted an audit of their systems' performance yet.

Amorosa added the county and school district had planned on installing a 166.98kW system at Valley View School, but that was removed from the planning.

"Watchung’ s Valley View was removed from the program because the three-story canopy would cause structural deficiencies due to snow load drift, and the roof portion of the project structural analysis also did not pass," Amorosa said.


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