Campuses to get solar panels

Booksin and Trace elementary first in line for clean energy project

Keeping the lights on at a couple of San Jose schools is already costing less money since recently installed solar panels began harnessing the sun’s power, according to school district officials.

And by the end of this summer, several more schools will be tapping renewable energy.

Booksin and Trace elementary schools became the first two of 25 campuses in the San Jose Unified School District to switch to solar energy.

District officials estimate each campus will save about $2 million in electricity costs over a 25-year period.

But although everyone agrees energy conservation is a laudable goal, the district’s rollout of the solar panel projects hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing, for reasons ranging from questionable community outreach efforts to the appearance and location of those panels.

At Galarza Elementary School, for example, neighborhood outcry threw a planned solar panel project onto the slow lane. Homeowners near the school on Willow Glen Way complained that the panels would be ugly and lower their property values by blocking scenic views of the Santa Cruz mountains. Because that project was still in the planning stages, district officials made some changes to the array based on their feedback.

Though work at Galarza was supposed to start several months ago, district spokesman Peter Allen said construction there and at several other schools will be delayed until some time after classes let out next month.

“All of those have been pushed for June start dates so we can do it over the summer,” Allen said, adding that construction on the roof “would cause too much disruption to classroom activity.”

Those start dates will likely be staggered throughout May and June, but all of the sites should be ready by the time school starts again in August, he added.

Neighbors of Booksin Elementary School had similar complaints as Galarza’s, but it was too late to do anything by the time they learned about the panels because construction had already started.