High school saving big bucks on energy

Since the array went live in mid-April, the 320 solar panels on the roof of Penticton Secondary School have harnessed enough energy to power 91,000 lightbulbs for 24 hours straight.

“That’s about $3,000 we’ve saved in electrical operating costs,” facilities director Doug Gorcak this week told the board of the Okanagan Skaha School District.

“That’s coming directly off our electrical invoices.”

The cost of the $250,000 installation was split between the school district, which offered up part of its annual facilities grant from the B.C. government, and a provincial program that awards rebates on carbon taxes paid by public sector agencies.

Ultimately, all the money came from the same taxpayers, who Gorcak said are already seeing a return on their investment through an approximately $70 daily savings on power bills at Pen-Hi.

Even better, the system could eventually generate money.

“We have the ability to turn the meter backwards at the school now, where if we’re generating more power than the school’s consuming, we would then sell that back into the City of Penticton’s grid,” explained Gorcak.

“Unfortunately, we’ll probably never get there because we use the building so much in the summer months, but I have this little glimmer of hope that one day we can actually start selling power back to the grid.”

Another benefit, he added, is the array has become a real-life classroom for students learning about solar power.

Superintendent Wendy Hyer praised Gorcak for his efforts.

“I remember when we hired you that was one of things you said you like to do: apply for grants and find ways of saving operating costs,” she said.

“It’s nice to see one of those projects being successful.”

Pen-Hi was chosen for the pilot project because it’s the biggest school in the district, which is now seeking grant money to put an array on top of Princess Margaret Secondary.

Meanwhile, trustees also heard this week the district is on the hook for $36,200 worth of offsets to neutralize the 1,448 tons of carbon dioxide its operations generated last year, the bulk of which came from producing heat and light.

Gorcak noted the 2016 output was down by 21 per cent from 2010, through a combination of measures like boiler upgrades and geothermal heating systems.

The B.C. government has committed to making the public sector carbon neutral by 2020.