Solar Panels to Power School
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- Created on Friday, 23 October 2015 13:19
- Written by Abbey Greene
WEST BURKE - A local school is going solar this year as two thousand two hundred and fifty solar panels are going to be installed in a gravel pit off of Route 5 in West Burke. The energy they produce is going to help power Lyndon Institute, saving them money and energy.
The Green Lantern Group, a solar company based out of Waterbury, proposed the idea of solar panels to the school. Working with Lyndon Institute and Lyndon Electric Company, the project took off. The permits for the solar panels were signed just last week.
"We began discussions with Lyndon Institute over ten months ago, so we are excited to get started," says the Director of Project Development at the Green Lantern Group, Sam Carlson.
The solar panels are each about two by four feet large, and they will be installed in racks together. The gravel pit off of Route 5 cannot be seen from the road, and provides the necessary four acres for the panels to remain.
Over the next twenty years, Lyndon Institute will be using the solar energy produced from the panels to help shave off $27,000 from their budget. Christine Fayette, the Assistant Head of Internal Affairs at Lyndon Institute, is thrilled with the savings.
"27,000 dollars, although it doesn't sound like much, could be a position," explains Fayette. "A teacher's aide, a teacher, a half teacher, an office person... so that's significant savings."
According to data provided by southwestclimatechange.org, energy-wise, the school will save enough energy over the next two decades that would power the average American household for an entire year. Another way to look at it, is Lyndon Institute is saving enough energy to gas up a car for the average citizen to drive in for two months.
Green Lantern hopes to get the installation project started before the groud freezes, and to have the panels operational by June 1st, 2016.
"We've put an order in for the equipment, and we will begin construction as soon as the equipment arrives," states Carlson. "But we aren't exactly sure when that's going to be."
Carlson credits the working relationships with Lyndon Electric and Lyndon Institute to be the reason the environmentally friendly idea was able to take root.
"We are the middle man in the project. But it takes everyone to make the project work," says Lyndon Electric representative Bill Humphrey.
The panel installation will hopefully begin within the next few months.
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