Solar power systems being installed on 19 school roofs

Aiea High School officials showed off the state’s first photovoltaic system on a public school Monday, saying it will cut electricity bills and help teach students the basics of renewable energy.

The launch of the 122-kilowatt, direct-current system at Aiea High School will be followed by installations of solar power systems at three more public schools on Oahu and all 15 public schools on Kauai.

The Aiea High School project will save the state Department of Education an estimated $150,000 in electricity costs over the next 20 years, according to Hawaii Pacific Solar, which has been contracted to do the installations on Oahu and Kauai.

HPS also provided Aiea High School a flat-screen monitor and curriculum materials that students will use to monitor the energy being generated by the system and calculate the amount of carbon reduction and energy savings, said Principal Michael Toki­oka.

All of the systems are being developed under power purchase agreements with the DOE paying no upfront costs. A third-party financing company owns the PV systems and sells the electricity to the DOE at a fixed rate over the 20-year life of the agreement. On Oahu the contract starts out with the schools paying 19 cents a kilowatt-hour for power, and on Kauai it starts out at 17 cents a kilowatt-hour. The contract includes a modest annual price increase.

The 17 cents Oahu schools will pay is well below the 32.6 cents per kilowatt-hour residents on Oahu paid in March and the 42.6 cents a kilowatt-hour paid by Kauai residents.

Randy Moore, head of the DOE’s school facilities division, said it made sense to use power purchase agreements rather than have the state own the PV systems outright. Because the state has no tax liability, it would not be able to benefit from state and federal tax credits totalling 65 percent toward the purchase of PV systems. Denver-based RC Energy, which owns the PV systems, was able to take advantage of the tax benefits and pass along some of the savings to the DOE in the form of discounted electric rates.

Moore said the timing of the PV installations on the Oahu schools was beneficial because all of the schools were due to have new roofs installed. The price negotiated by the DOE included new roofs at no cost to the state, he said.

The Aiea High School PV system will produce an estimated 173,707 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, or enough to power 25 homes on Oahu for a year.

Elsewhere on Oahu, PV installations are under way at Wai­anae High School and Kahuku High and Intermediate School, Moore said. A PV project is scheduled to start next week at Kaimuki High School. The installations on Kauai are expected to begin soon and be completed by 2014, according to Moore.