Solar panels will be installed at Ansonia High School in the spring, according to Mayor James Della Volpe.
The panels will be paid for by state and federal grants, as well as Sunlight General Capital, a New York company that invests in solar projects.
The city won’t own the panels: Sunlight General will. But the city will begin buying a portion of the high school’s energy from Sunlight General Capital at a discounted rate once the panels are installed.
Della Volpe said the deal means Ansonia gets energy savings without having to pay anything toward the panels.
“It will be great to save money,” Della Volpe told the Board of Aldermen last week.
City Counsel Kevin Blake estimated the cost savings at 11 percent each month — for a total annual savings of about $20,000.
Ansonia High School was chosen because it is the city’s largest energy consumer and has enough room on its roof to house the panels, Blake said.
Background
The deal was made with the help of the city’s Energy Improvement District commission and a consultant, En-Power Group of Katonah, New York.
Michael Scorrano, managing director for En-Power Group, said the project received a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund for $420,000.
About $150,000 will come from federal tax incentives for clean energy projects, Scorrano said.
And Sunlight General is footing the rest of the bill.
Scorrano said the partnership is necessary because the tax credits aren’t available to municipalities.
“It’s still very capital intensive,” Scorrano said about the solar power industry. “You definitely need subsidies.”
The Contract
At its Dec. 1 meeting, the Board of Education signed a 15-year contact with Sunlight General and installation company Solar Energy Systems, of Brooklyn.
The contract allows Sunlight General to use the Ansonia High School roof, and sell cheaper power to the school.
Scorrano said the system will produce 225,000 kilowatt hours worth of power each year. It’s not enough to power 100 percent of the school’s energy, but the rest will continue to be purchased from United Illuminating Co.
Only one member of the Ansonia Board of Education — board president John Lawlor — voted against the contract. He objected to the speed at which the board was being asked to sign the agreement.
The board received the contract proposal at the end of November and was asked to vote on it about a week later, according to Board of Education meeting minutes.
Lawlor said he would have liked to be involved in the discussions before that, so the board understood the project better before voting.
After the 15-year contract ends, the city has an option to purchase the solar panels from Sunlight General, to have the company remove them or to enter into a new power-purchase agreement.
