School District Moving Ahead with Solar Plans
Paneled canopies to be installed on six Teaneck school district buildings
Photos
Pdfs
The Board of Education has approved installing ground-mounted solar panel canopies at six district building, according to a report on northjersey.com.
A BOE architect estimated the district would save $1 million over 15 years, the report said.
Elsewhere in North Jersey, William Paterson University has installed similar panels in the form of carports, the Associated Press reported. Hudson Energy will operate Teaneck's panels for 15 years. The company works with other districts, including Holmdel schools.
Read more about the project on northjersey.com.
A district presentation and photos of the panels are attached to this report. Additional presentations are posted on the school district website.
Diane Schwarz
10:51 am on Thursday, March 15, 2012
It's great for the future, but do we have the money to spend from the current budget? What do we have to give up to do this wonderful thing?
Richard Zuendt
11:05 am on Friday, April 13, 2012
You will pay for it in the end, dearly.
zizi
11:11 am on Thursday, March 15, 2012
I hope tax payers don't have to pay extra because of this.......
Richard Zuendt
11:04 am on Friday, April 13, 2012
They sure will!
Richard Zuendt
12:35 pm on Friday, April 20, 2012
What a waste of money. None of these systems is worth the money to blow them up.
Richard Zuendt
12:35 pm on Friday, April 20, 2012
These projects are just a waste of money. NONE of them ever returns the savings that they promise. Learn more about solar projects here: http://conservativenewjersey.com/the-great-solar-panel-rip-off-part-1
Margot Fisher
10:48 am on Friday, April 13, 2012
I just noticed these comments. To clarify, the solar energy will not cost the taxpayers (who include all 9 members of the BOE) anything.
The solar structures will be owned, operated and maintained by Hudson Energy Solar Corp., which will sell the electricity to the district at 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour vs. current cost of 14.5 cents per kilowatt hour. BOE architect Joseph DiCara estimated that in 15 years the district would save $1 million. Hudson Energy will operate the system for the BOE for 15 years, after which the board will have the option of purchasing the system. If the board chooses not to, Hudson will dismount it.
In short, it is free to the taxpayers AND it is friendly to the environment--taken together, that would probably be justification enough. But, more important, it promises to save money, allowing the board to hold down costs without having to further dilute the educational program, which has been severely impacted by cuts in state aid over the past two years.
And just for the record, it has been cuts in state aid, NOT "reckless spending" as some would say, that have stressed the BOE budget and increasingly shifted the cost burden of public education onto local property taxes during the current administration in Trenton.
Richard Zuendt
11:04 am on Friday, April 13, 2012
Hudson Energy is having this project subsidized by the rate payers in New Jersey. Hudson Energy will get up to 80% of the cost of this project from funds that are collected by the BPU from your electric bill. To think that this will not "cost" the taxpayer anything is to be ignorant of the real world. Solar power costs over 500 times more than other methods of generating electricity. This project will cost the taxpayers dearly.
As far as school funding, the voters of Teaneck, instead of voting for the Republican candidates who would have voted for Fair School Funding instead voted for the Democrats who continue to send YOUR tax dollars to the Abbott District schools. Fair School Funding would have sent $27 million additional funding to Teaneck. That is enough to not only increase school spending, but could also give the town a 25% or more cut in property taxes.
You should do a little more "homework" before you accept the wild claims made by companies like Hudson Energy. Every project these companies get increases the rates that all consumers pay for electricity in New Jersey.