News
Athens City School District is adding solar panels to cut down on electricity spending
By: Shane Scalfaro
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Athens City School District’s elementary schools and district office are getting upgrades to their roofs with new solar panels to help cut down their spending on electricity.
The project has been in the works for a long time, according to Superintendent Thomas Gibbs.
“This is something that we’ve actually been looking at since I started in 2015 and we’ve done an analysis three separate times,” said Gibbs.
The district invested over $1.3 million into putting 1,051 panels on the roofs of the district office in Chauncey, Morrison-Gordon Elementary and East Elementary.
The money for the project came from the district’s permanent improvement funds that were in reserves.
“It’s not touching our general funds,” said Gibbs.
“Most customers here cut their electric bills about 50%,” said Greenfield.
The savings for the three buildings combined are estimated to be over $38,000 in year one.
The panels are anchored down with concrete blocks meaning Kokosing Solar didn’t have to drill into the roof. This helps prevent rain damage from any holes.
The panels are wired together and connected to inverters installed on the walls outside the buildings.
“Their job is to convert the direct current electricity to the AC, or alternating current electricity, that the building uses,” said Greenfield.
The energy collected from the sun mixes with electricity from a supplier and powers the building.
Both Greenfield and Gibbs are optimistic about conserving energy.
“It’s a proud moment for us in Athens,” said Greenfield.