Belgrade School District finished outfitting one of its school buildings with solar panels this month, a project that was paid for by a state grant.
People driving past Ridge View Elementary School can now see an array of solar panels on the building’s roof. The panels are 50 kilowatts, which is enough to power more than six homes in a year, a district press release said.
The solar project could help offset the building’s energy usage by more than 20%, facilities director LeRoy Lundell said.
“At the same time, we’ve also been doing an LED upgrade in the school, and we just recently finished the last light bulb,” Lundell said. “So — those two things coupled together — I’m hoping we get 25 to 30. We’ll see, time will tell.”
The project was paid for by a 2021 grant from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation worth just over $115,000, Lundell said. The district worked with Bozeman Green Build to finish the project.
“The fact that it’s a net-zero cost, I mean, yeah that’s a great price,” he said. “To no cost to the taxpayers, which is, you know a double whammy. Plus, we get continued savings over the life of these.”
With Earth Day approaching in April, having solar panels creates opportunities for “teachable moments” with Ridge View students, Principal Mat Johnston said.
“It could be pretty amazing in terms of science and technology,” Johnston said. “Showing how these things work, how the power is routed into the building, how it offsets what we have normally coming into the building for power usage. I could see teachers using that for a long time. ...Teach the kids about energy conservation and the benefits of having solar panels. I think there could be some really neat units out of that.”
The savings on Belgrade schools’ energy bill could also help to allocate more money towards other programs, Johnston added.
Belgrade High School has a smaller solar array that was installed around 10 years ago, Lundell said. Belgrade Middle School would also be a good choice for a future solar project, he said.
“I think (this project) is just another step on showing what we are trying to do at Belgrade schools with what we have,” said district spokesperson Leslie Atkinson. “By looking at grants to be able to fund a project like this and trying to be as responsible as we can to our taxpayers and build up that trust and that level of reciprocity that will permeate through other projects as well and showing that we’re doing everything that we can with every single dollar and we’re looking at savings.”
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