Lansing Central School District Business Administrator Mary June King told the Board Of Education Tuesday that a New York State Energy Research and Development (NYSERDA) grant for an approximately 2 megawatt solar array has been approved.  The grant will go to Dynamic Energy to construct an approximately 6,000 panel array.  The school district will buy the power from Dynamic Energy, saving an estimated $45,000 in the first year.

"We're very excited about this," King said.  "I'll have several meetings about this in the next several weeks as we negotiate the power purchase agreement, determine which plot of land we can put this array on, etcetera.  Everyone is excited about it."

The school district will have no capital investment in the project because it will be purchasing the power from Dynamic Energy, which would build the 6,000 panel solar array on about 10 acres of land it will lease from Cayuga Operating Company (COC), which owns the Cayuga Power Plant.

The grant is part of NY-Sun awards.  The program is a state push to add 214 megawatts of solar power, a 68% increase over the amount that was installed by the end of 2013.  50 project sites are located at businesses, 41 at schools including Lansing, 36 at municipal and other government facilities, and 15 sites at nonprofits, health care institutions and colleges.  13 of the sites were designated in Central New York and another 13 in the Finger Lakes Region.

In July TST BOCES Energy Management Coordinator Chris Santospirito said that Lansing would be the first school district in New York State to implement such an agreement.  She said the district would also have the largest solar array system in the state for a public school district.  She now notes that since Lansing initiated talks with Dynamic Energy other school districts in the state have 'caught up' and are working on solar array projects of similar size.  That still makes Lansing one of a few pioneers in obtaining power from remote net metering sites.

Early this year Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a new program. K-Solar is a joint project of the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and NYSERDA, that provides tools and resources for schools that want to use solar energy.  But Santospirito says that the grant for Dynamic Energy to provide power to the Lansing schools goes beyond what K-Solar could offer.

King said that Santospirito would be meeting with power plant officials who have offered to lease the land for the solar array and Dynamic Energy officials.  She said the original parcel plant officials offered is not close enough to a Phase 3 Power Grid, so alternative sites will be discussed.  Santospirito notes that the lease is between Dynamic Energy and the power plant -- the school does not receive the grant money.  Rather, Dynamic Energy receives it for the purpose of building the infrastructure to provide low cost energy to the schools.

"The folks at the plant are outstanding in their willingness to talk terms and to work with us," King said.

King said the power purchase agreement would likely include a starting rate with an attached escalator tied to the market rate or something of that nature.  She said the goal is for the district to pay below market rate for power in the duration of the contract.

She also said she has been working with Dynamic Energy on tax issues for the array.  Both the Board Of Education and the Town of Lansing opted to tax solar installations.  A few large commercial solar arrays in the planning stage would bring additional tax monies to the taxing authorities, while smaller, personal home systems would not add to a home's taxable value, according to Tompkins County Director of Assessment jay Franklin.

"Dynamic Energy had some concerns about that," King said.  "They hadn't realized that when they put in their proposal to NYSERDA.  It would impact their numbers.  However, providing power to the school district is an 'educational purpose'.  Because all of this energy will be coming to the school district and it will not exceed our energy needs the County has determined that this array will be exempt."

The estimated savings in the first year is about 19% of what the district is currently paying.  Over the 20 year life of the contract the school district could save almost $1.4 million.

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