Rural School Goes Solar

Even before Town Meeting voted to make Natick a Green Community in the spring, the town has been looking for opportunities to use green technologies around town.

But this year the town has started use the $175,000 boost from the state to lay the groundwork for more green energy projects in Natick.

Natick has opened a relationship with the company Ameresco, which will install, own and operate a photovoltaic solar array on the roof of Kennedy Middle School. The town has agreed to buy the electricity the solar panels generate at between $.03 and $.06 per kilowatt hour, much lower than the current rate of $.18, and saving the town more than $15,000 per year in electricity costs.

In return, Ameresco gets $74,000 from the state Green Communities grant, and rights to trade the state and federal energy tax credits. The solar array will be placed on Kennedy’s roof in the summer of 2011.

Part of Natick’s deal with Ameresco is to explore similar opportunities on the other town-owned buildings according to Bob Bois, the town’s conservation agent.

“Phase two is to evaluate solar and to select solar sites on the other 18 or 19 town buildings, or a solar generation site at the gravel pit,” Bois said.

The Natick Community Organic Farm, which has been using solar greenhouses to grow salad greens through the winters for decades, has had solar panels on the barn roof since 2008. Before the panels were installed, the farm’s electricity costs exceeded $8,000, executive director Lynda Simkins said. This year, the electricity costs at the farm are closer to $2,700, she said.

“It’s been very beneficial for us; it’s very beneficial to put these alternative energy projects on public land, so the community can see them,” Simkins said.

The new Natick High School and the new Senior Center are also being built with energy efficiency as a top priority. The high school is striving for a platinum-level LEED certification - the highest possible designation - and has several energy saving methods planned.

The school will have it’s own solar array, and will feature a “gray water” system that captures an estimated 600,000 gallons of rainwater a year to use for flushing toilets and other non-drinking uses. Rooms in the new school will have smart controls that will shut off lights and regulate temperature, and the building will maximize sunlight for day lighting and heat.

Peter Sanchioni, Natick’s superintendent of schools, said much of the reason the district chose to model the new high school on the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School in Whitman was it’s incredible energy efficiency.

“It’s going to cost us less than the current building, thanks to these systems,” Sanchioni said. “We looked at all the models, and this was one of the most energy efficient buildings out there.”

Bois said the town is also exploring the possibility of having an electric car charging station at the new high school; Boise said Natick is looking at several different locations for a charging station, planning for future needs of electric-only vehicles.

Replacing the current fleet of vehicles is another large opportunity for the town to save on energy costs, Bois said. There are 17 vehicles currently in use that will be replaced by either a hybrid/electric vehicle, or a more fuel efficient model.

The town is also replacing older fixtures with more efficient lighting, upgrading motors in water pumps and finding other opportunities to get more energy efficient.

Bois said the town has reduced its energy use by 8 percent since 2005, and greenhouse gas production by 7 percent.

“We’ve taken on the cause, and pushed the envelope,” Bois said. “Those to projects are an example of walking the walk.”