Solar Savvy: East Lyme High School turns on the solar power (481 kW array, Conn.)

http://zip06.theday.com/blogs/lyme_times/archive/2009/04/09/solar-savvy-east-lyme-high-school-turns-on-the-solar-power.aspx

This spring, East Lyme High School is growing something unique in its new rooftop garden: organic electricity.

The 481-kilowatt, photovoltaic solar system includes a “garden” of more than 2,900 solar panels, from which the school started drawing power for the first time on March 9. The system’s sunlight harvest is expected to account for 25 to 30 percent of ELHS’s annual electricity needs, saving it approximately $1.2 million over the next 20 years.

“Even on a cloudy day, we’re still pulling plenty of electricity from it,” East Lyme Public Schools business manager Don Meltabarger said while surveying the array of panels atop the main building. “I’m curious to see what our first electric bill will look like.”

The project is the result of a contract between ELHS and Constellation Energy, a nationally recognized and publicly traded company that has financed and built more than $1 billion in energy related projects to date. Under their power purchase agreement, Constellation owns and maintains the solar equipment for the next 20 years and sells the energy it produces to the school at a rate of 12 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).

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