The Shadow
MILLBORO — An abnormally wet 2018 somewhat dampened solar expectations in Bath County schools.
The shortfall in projected solar production was explained by BARC Electric CEO?Mike Keyser during his review of the solar project in Bath County Public Schools at a Tuesday night meeting of the Bath County School Board.
Keyser was providing an update on the project that is just over a year old. Solar production fell short of its target by about 30,000 kilowatt hours in 2018.
BARC forecasted that about 1.17 million kilowatt hours of electricity would be produced, but production was limited to about 1.14 million kilowatt hours.
“It was a conservative estimate, but nobody foresaw the kind of rain that we were going to have last year,”?Keyser said. “When the sun isn’t shining, the project isn’t producing.”
BARC Electric and Bath County schools partnered to install solar arrays at all three county schools. It included 740 solar panels at Bath County High School, 530 modules at Millboro Elementary School and 480 on-ground modules along with 1,376 roof arrays at Valley Elementary School. This endeavor made Bath County Public Schools one of the first school systems in the Virginia to dip into solar energy.
Officials expected solar power to cover about 50 percent of the energy needs in Bath County schools and 100 percent at Valley Elementary School.
Valley nearly met this net zero goal in 2018.
Without solar power, Keyser forecasted that Bath County schools would have spent $279,000 last year in purchases from BARC. With solar, Bath County schools spent $129,000 in operations and maintenance costs along with its loan payment. Bath County schools purchased $154,000 in electricity from the BARC grid.
“We had a $30,000 production shortfall because of the weather,”?Keyser said. “Had we had a good weather year or even an average weather year, I?think you would have either broke even or probably saved a little bit of money this year because of the project.
“I?think in time we’re going to see the project paying off,”?he added.
Keyser further explained that in January 2019, the BARC Board of Directors passed along a purchase power increase to customers that BARC received from its power supplier as well as a distribution rate increase. This does not affect Bath County schools, which have fixed energy costs for the next 20 years thanks to the solar project.
“For you guys, half of your power is at a fixed rate, so you’re going to see a bigger spread when we come back a year from now,”?Keyser explained to the school board.
Despite the weather and slight shortfall in production projections, Bath County school officials join BARC executives in remaining excited about the project and the additional educational opportunities it has provided for students.
“I’m still thrilled with the project,”?school board member Roy Burns said.
Keyser concurred. He said he planned to discuss the Bath County solar endeavor Wednesday during a national presentation in Washing-ton, D.C. — how it’s led to new educational opportunities and how Bath County schools will realize cost savings over the 35-year life of the project.
“I?think it’s still a great project,”?Keyser said. “I’ve been talking about it throughout the state.”
