School Power Naturally

Summary

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is sponsoring an opportunity for New York schools to own and use a 2-kW grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) system as part of a four-year educational program called School Power...Naturally. Fifty schools are expected to participate. The first installations will begin in March 2003. Solar Works, Inc. will be designing, installing, and servicing the PV Systems on behalf of NYSERDA. Solar Works leads a team for the program that includes the Research Foundation of the State University of New York (SUNY). SUNY will be developing the curricular materials. The fully installed PV system ($20,000 value) will cost each school $1,500 and will include weather instrumentation, equipment that records output from the PV System, and ongoing service through June, 2006. Also included is a broad range of age-appropriate and multi-disciplinary PV curricular materials that will integrate use of the PV System and weather station into existing curricula. Public or nonpublic high schools, BOCES, middle schools, or elementary schools (containing grades 5 and 6) are eligible to apply for a PV system, provided the school or school district pays a "system benefits charge" when paying its electric utility bill. The System Benefits Charge is an assessment on the delivery of electricity that was established by New York's Public Service Commission to fund important public policy initiatives in energy research and efficiency, including New York Energy $mart, the source of the funds for this program. (See DSIRE's summary of New York's public benefits fund.) Schools that are a customer of investor-owned utilities, including Con Edison, Central Hudson Gas & Electric, New York State Electric & Gas, Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, Rochester Gas and Electric, and Orange and Rockland typically pay the system benefits charge.