When the solar panels at Middlesex High School go online soon, Middlesex County Public Schools (MCPS) will become the first school division in the nation to have all school buildings completely powered by on-site renewable energy, said MCPS School Superintendent Dr. Peter Gretz.
The project was completed on December 30, 2019 by Sun Tribe Solar, which is waiting on an official letter from Dominion Energy giving permission to turn the system on, said Dr. Gretz.
In September 2018, a one-megawatt solar system installed by Sun Tribe Solar on land adjacent to Middlesex Elementary School and St. Clare Walker Middle School began powering both Locust Hill schools. Like this solar array, the MHS system will produce electricity at a cost savings, said Dr. Gretz.
“We will pay almost 2 cents less per kilowatt at the high school than we have been paying, and the rate will never increase over the next 30 years,” he said. “We’re thrilled to be at the forefront of this great technology and to be able to exemplify excellent, efficient stewardship of community resources by using significantly less county funding to power our schools.”
Solar power’s future is bright. “Over a dozen Virginia school districts have established similar projects this past year as a result of our leadership, saving their taxpayers millions in energy costs and providing hands-on learning for their students in an increasingly developing career field as well as an SOL-tested science,” said Dr. Gretz.
Dr. Gretz noted the solar project began with an idea of Middlesex Board of Supervisors member Pete Mansfield and others who explored the feasibility of solar power.
When the Locust Hill solar facility was dedicated, Dr. Gretz told the audience gathered at the solar site he is not a skeptic by nature. “The more we explored, the more we learned about this project and the benefit that will come at absolutely no upfront cost to the schools. All of us kept thinking, ‘This can’t possibly be true. There has to be a catch.’ But, there is absolutely no catch!”
Besides saving the school system $2 million over 25 years, the Locust Hill solar facility will provide a tangible lesson in renewable energy. This array will completely power the elementary and middle schools with an annual generation of 1.6 GWh, which is the equivalent of reducing gasoline consumption by about 134,000 gallons.
Through a system called “netmetering,” any excess kilowatt-hours generated are sent to the Dominion Energy electricity grid to offset any kilowatt-hours pulled from that grid at night, explained Devin Welch, vice president of business development for Sun Tribe Solar of Charlottesville.
