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MIFFLINTOWN -- Schools face many costs in educating students, but energy bills are some of the largest expenses.
That's especially true in the Juniata County School District where energy costs continue to skyrocket. School officials said the district's electric bill in 2023 was around $350,000.
School district administrators and board of directors looked at various options for using solar power, which has grown rapidly over the last decade as the price of solar panels has decreased.
Even though electricity from solar is one of the cheapest forms of energy over the life of the panels, the upfront costs of a private array can be a deterrent.
After listening intently to a presentation from representatives from GreenWorks Development LLC, of Harrisburg, in November 2022, school board members tabled voting on a contract proposal, citing the need to gather additional information on the subject. The topic of solar energy has also come on several occasions without the board taking action.
According to the plan, the district would lease the solar arrays from a group of investors for five years. Starting with the sixth year, the district could purchase the program outright.
The amount of the rebate continued to drop and the deadlines passed without any action being taken on the matter.
At the time, school district business manager Richard Meily warned those in attendance, "We'll be looking at doubling our electricity costs, if we don't do anything. With solar, we can generate more than 100 percent and sell it back to the grid."
Now, the Jan. 31 deadline is nearing for Solar for Schools, a new state grant program that aims to save schools money through solar energy and is accepting applications. It appears the district will put solar options on the backburner.
Juniata County School District Superintendent of Schools Christie Holderman said simply, "We will revisit solar at a later date."
When the topic of solar energy also came up at the school board's regular meeting on Jan. 16, Holderman offered a similar response stating the issue is not being discussed.
Holderman elaborated that the application for an available grant was due this month, but it would have required some advance preparation by the district so they decided not to pursue it.
According to statistics released by Generation 180, a clean energy non-profit, the number of K to 12 schools using school power doubled from 2020 to 2021. The 108 schools using solar energy in the state represent nearly five percent of all K to 12 students in the state, about 90,000 students. That equates to about two percent of all Pennsylvania schools.
Locally, Mifflin County and Midd-West school districts use solar energy.
In 2021, Mifflin County school officials gave the greenlight to a solar plan that is expected to save the district around $8.9 million over 30 years.
There was an upfront cost to the project, which was paid out of the district's capital reserve fund. The estimated $1.5 million investment does not include the solar panels, which will cost the district nothing, Mifflin County School District Superintendent of Schools Vance Varner said during a 2021 interview.
In June 2024, Varner sent a letter home to parents stating after the first full year of having solar projects at Mifflin COunty High School and East Derry Elementary School in operation, the district has seen annual energy savings of $379,518. The letter also said the district expects to save $3.38 million dollars over the first 10 years of solar use.
Since the Midd-West system went online in 2020, the district has generated 90 to 95 percent of the school district's power, which is expected to reduce its electricity bill by $9 million over 40 years.
Most of the schools that have installed solar panels are in the central and eastern parts of the state, with just a handful of projects in western Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is one of 29 states that allows third-party ownership of solar arrays, which enables a solar developer to pay for, install and maintain a solar energy system on a property owned by a school district, then sell the property owner the power generated at a discounted price.
Most school districts aren't eligible for clean energy tax incentives because they're public entities, but privately owned solar companies that install solar panels on schools receive substantial tax credits, making the relationship beneficial for both parties.
Midd-West School District used third-party ownership, using Greenworks. The district didn't pay anything for the installation, and will instead pay GreenWorks a set rate for the power generated by the panels for the next five years.