STRATFORD – City officers plan to outfit Stratford Excessive College with photo voltaic panels, a transfer that might save a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} in power prices within the coming years.
The Stratford Metropolis Council on Monday voted unanimously to award a contract value greater than $760,000 to CTEC Photo voltaic, a Bloomfield-based firm, to construct the photo voltaic array on prime of the varsity.
The panels, which can be put in throughout the roofs of two of the varsity’s two buildings, are anticipated to assist energy the just lately renovated college for the following 20 years, based on metropolis paperwork.
“This can be a actually thrilling alternative to save lots of the town cash by lowering electrical energy payments and deploying clear power within the metropolis,” stated Robert Klee, a former commissioner of the Division of Vitality and Conservation. State environmental consulting with the city on sustainability initiatives, informed the Stratford Board of Training final yr.
The council selected CTEC’s 220 kilowatt system over comparable however barely costlier proposals from Consolidated Edison Options, Horton Electrical Providers and WC McBride Electrical Contractors.
Officers didn’t share how a lot cash the panels are anticipated to save lots of the town. Nonetheless, a small 104 kilowatt photo voltaic array constructed by CTEC on the roof of a highschool in West Hartford is anticipated to usher in $500,000 over 25 years, based on the corporate.
The venture was funded partially by a virtually $950,000 state grant for varsity building. The panels can be put in on prime of the varsity’s newly constructed roofs, which have been up to date as half of a bigger 6 million renovation and enlargement of the practically 100-year-old college.
Moreover powering the varsity, the photo voltaic panel system additionally has an academic part. The brand new tools can be related to a pair of digital kiosks that may present “real-time power manufacturing values” for college kids and lecturers to research.
Metropolis paperwork present the set up must be accomplished by the top of April. But it surely’s unclear whether or not CTEC will persist with that timeline. Stratford officers didn’t instantly return requests for remark concerning the venture.
The highschool is the sixth college on the town to have photo voltaic panels. Officers beforehand awarded a .5 million contract to Con Edison to put in arrays at Chapel Avenue and Second Hill Lane elementary colleges, Wooster Center College, Bunnell Excessive College and Stratford Academy: Johnson Home. The same venture is deliberate for the Birdseye Municipal Advanced.
Twitter @RichChumney.
