Columbia Independent School goes solar – News – Columbia Daily Tribune

On the roof, unnoticed by the students who returned to Columbia Independent School on Thursday, were 285 solar panels.

The rooftop solar panels, which were installed over the summer and went online Wednesday, are capable of producing 99,750 kilowatts of electricity on the sunniest days.

CIS Head of School Adam Dube said it is the first school in the state to use Missouri’s Property Assessed Clean Energy program — PACE — to fund a project. It’s through the Division of Energy with the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

“It’s a program that Missouri started for businesses and non-profits like ourselves to invest in renewable energy,” Dube said. “About a year ago we started looking at the program.”

He said the program, plus donations from supporters, funded the $300,000 project.  It also included replacing all the lighting in the school with light-emitting diode lighting. There are now 1,200 LED lights throughout the school. He said the school couldn’t have done the project without the state financing mechanism.

Trevor Fowler, CIS security and facilities coordinator, said other aspects of the project included replacing two inefficient rooftop air conditioning units with one highly-efficient unit. In the gym there are six destratification fans, designed to better circulate air in large spaces so that the temperature is warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Fowler said on sunny days the solar panels can produce power for the electric grid.

“It’s really neat to be part of a project where you’re first,” Fowler said.

 He said the solar power will reduce electric bills by one-third or more.

“We’re going to supplement up to 40 percent” with solar, Fowler said. “Some days will be up to 90 percent.”

He said to test the solar system the school operated on only solar power for a short time.

EnergyLink was the contractor for the project.

Fowler said a software package that came with the solar array will allow teachers and students to view on computers the amount of energy use in the school from coal-powered sources and from solar power in real time. He said teachers can develop lesson plans around it.

“We’ll be able to use this as an educational piece,” he said.

“A lot of our students are passionate about sustainability,” CIS spokeswoman Kari Dowell said. She said an upper school student is pursuing a fellowship in sustainability.

“Our families were key in funding the project,” Dowell said.

“That’s the great part,” Dube said. “In the long-term, we’re making an investment in the environment. We’re reducing our production of carbon emissions. We feel great about that. Our goal is to be increasingly sustainable.”

Josh Campbell, executive director of the Missouri Energy Initiative, said Columbia Independent School is right to be proud of being the first school in the state to use PACE to fund a solar power project.

“It’s ultimately a different way to provide financing using private capital from a variety of different sources,” Campbell said.  He said CIS would pay a fixed interests rate over the 20-years of payments.

“It is a great project,” Campbell said. “It’s an area we would like to work with more.”

It’s the 20th anniversary of Columbia Independent School, a private, college preparatory school. An anniversary event is planned for later this year. The school has been in its current building at 1801 N. Stadium Blvd. since 2009.

rmckinney@columbiatribune.com

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