Somerset Berkley Regional High School has approximately 990 students, mostly from the Commonwealth’s Somerset and Berkley member towns. The district partnered with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to build an 80-million-dollar new regional high school in 2010, which started operation in September 2014.

Challenge

The district explored ways to reduce operating costs to assign more resources to student welfare and decided to install a solar project to boost its energy savings. With its plan including provisions for a solar system, the building was already equipped with the necessary infrastructure and structural capacity to support a large solar array on the roof. The installation of a solar array, as a result, was comparatively easy.

Solution

The district signed a PPA with Solect, supported by PowerOptions that led Solect to install, own, and operate the solar array on the school’s roof and, in exchange, sell the power generated at a fixed rate for the next 20 years back to the school.

Results

A $19,000 yearly savings on electricity costs

The solar array is expected to cover up to 20% of the school’s annual electricity use and save approximately $19,000 annually on energy expenses.