Sycamore school board considers joining community solar projects to save money on energy costs

SYCAMORE – Sycamore Community School District 427 officials debated the pros and cons of community solar projects this week during a discussion that revolved around ways for the district to save money on energy costs.

The Sycamore school board considered the benefits of community solar after hearing a presentation from Mark Nakayama, part owner of sustainable energy investment and development firm, 11 Million Acres.

“At the end of the day, the goal is to deliver lower costs of power to the school district without having to invest any money up front, and without having to install any equipment or be responsible for the servicing and maintenance of that equipment on-site,” Nakayama said.

Community solar gardens are a project in which individuals, businesses and organizations can buy or subscribe to an allotment of solar panels inside a solar array, which is a collection of panels installed together.

The subscribers of a community solar garden enter into an agreement that enables the funding for a solar installation somewhere within their utility’s service territory. One entity – in this case, 11 Million Acres – pays for the upfront costs to build, maintain and connect the garden to the utility’s power grid, and subscribers pay the owner of the garden for their allocation of produced electricity. Then the owner of the garden reports the output of each solar subscription to the utility company. The company then takes that output and gives credits toward the subscriber’s electric bill.

The electricity going to a subscriber’s home doesn’t come from the solar panels but rather the overall electrical grid. State subsidies, along with the creation of new electricity from the solar panels, lowers the market price by decreasing the need for other power plants.

Nakayama said 11 Million Acres’ initial analysis shows Sycamore school district would save around $41,600 annually through credits that can be applied to its electric bill. However, he said that number may vary over time as energy prices changes.

“But for the most part our goal is to save the school district about $41,000 a year simply by just rolling into community solar,” Nakayama said.

During Tuesday’s meeting, school board member Eric Jones asked Nakayama how the projected $41,600 in annual savings would be affected by changing energy prices. Nakayama said the credits are based on the default rates given by ComEd.

“If the market goes up, not great for everyone who’s paying ComEd,” Nakayama said. “But your monetary credits will also trend upward and you’ll get 10% up to that $41,600 a year.”

If the Sycamore district agreed to the contract proposed by 11 Million Acres, the district would be bound to the agreement for 10 years.

Jim Dombek, board of education president, asked if the $41,600 cap could become a floating cap that scales with the increase in electricity costs over the 10-year period of the contract.

“In my experience, I’ve never seen electric prices go down and I would be extremely surprised if in the future that happens,” Dombeck said. “In fact, I would say that all portends are that electric prices are going to go up and up and up and up.”

Nakayama said while he understands Dombeck’s concern, 11 Million Acres usually has a set structure.

While community solar is a way for the school district to potentially lower energy costs, the desire for solar energy goes hand in hand with the threat of climate change. To that end, the Illinois Community Solar program stems from the 2016 Future Energy Jobs Act. The legislation allows for energy consumers to purchase a portion of electricity produced through a community solar garden and in return receive credits on their electric bill.

After Nakayama’s presentation, Dombek told the board he thinks community solar could be a great thing but would like to see the district assured it would get, proportionally, the same discount for 10 years.

“In fact, if there was a float, I mean, I’d say ‘yeah, absolutely. Let’s go’,” Dombek said.