Board of Education members took an energy consultant to task Tuesday for what they called a disappointing start to a renewable energy and efficiency program touted last spring as a cost-cutting measure to reduce electricity expenses at public schools.
School utility costs, which are centrally paid, are expected to more than double to $150 million within the next two decades due to rate increases alone, not accounting for new schools or increased air conditioning.
The Department of Education in March announced a five-year sustainability program called Ka Hei that would include the installation of solar panels and wind turbines, improved energy management techniques and water conservation for all 255 public schools. Officials said at the time that the program would produce $1.1 billion in savings over 25 years.
The Legislature reduced the department’s funding for utilities next year by $9 million, assuming the DOE would realize projected savings. Instead, the department is seeking an additional $13 million for next year to cover its energy costs.
“We’re impatient to get as much savings as we can because we have so many budgetary constraints,” said Brian De Lima, chairman of the Board of Education’s Finance and Infrastructure Committee.
Brian Kealoha, regional manager for OpTerra Energy, the contractor hired to carry out the Ka Hei program, said 30 schools have been selected for photovoltaics in areas where Hawaiian Electric Co. is allowing PV systems to connect to the grid.
He said HECO has been slow to approve applications, but added that OpTerra has done energy audits at the 30 schools in the meantime to find efficiencies and savings. The company expects to start construction within the next few months on the PV systems that will produce two megawatts of renewable energy by the end of the year.
“The No. 1 priority is the (savings), and we don’t see that,” BOE Chairman Don Horner told Kealoha at an update briefing Tuesday. “We paid you several million dollars’ worth of consulting fees, and as it sits here today, our utility costs, I don’t know how much it’s been impacted by your expertise.”
Horner and others questioned why the consultant hasn’t done energy audits of all schools, not just the photovoltaic candidates.
“Maybe we need to revisit what the contract says. I thought your job was to look at all the 255 schools, find a base line of where we are, what we can do in order to reduce our overall
$62 million in utility costs,” Horner said. “You’re the expert. That’s what I was expecting — to do the low-hanging fruit in each one of the schools because it hasn’t been done before. That’s why we hired you. I don’t see that here. I’m disappointed.”
De Lima said the board didn’t have an opportunity to vet the contract with OpTerra’s predecessor, Chevron Energy Solutions. He asked the DOE’s assistant superintendent for school facilities and support services, who’s been on the job two months, to come back to the committee next month with a breakdown of the contract terms and more clarity on how the department plans to reduce its utility bill.
