State Green Grant Could Mean New Roofs for Elementary Schools

By Adam Swift

If the state budget breaks right, Winthrop could be looking at being eligible for new roofs for its two elementary schools.

Monday night, the School Committee agreed to sign a letter of intent to move forward with a solar panel program at the two schools. Ultimately, the project could put the town in line for the state’s Green Grant program which would pay for new roofs at the schools.

“We have been talking to Solect Energy, they are the ones who put the solar panels on the middle school-high school building, and they own that system and we get credits on our bill every month for the power that we generate there,” said Town Manager Tony Marino.

Marino said Solect Energy is interested in doing other projects and entering into similar agreements at other sites in the town, including the ice rink.

“But for this committee, they were really interested in putting solar panels on the two elementary schools,” said Marino.”One of the issues we have is that the roofs are 20 years old … so you don’t want to go starting to put 15-year solar panels on a roof that’s 20 years old.”

However, Marino said the problem Winthrop faces with its school roofs is not a unique one throughout the state.

“In the House budget, they allocated $100 million for green school work,” said Marino. “The state has identified that one of the reasons (communities) don’t put solar on school buildings is because the towns and cities don’t have money for the roofs. Like us, they have a 20 or 30 year old roof that they don’t have the money to put the roof on, so they opt not to have solar panels because nobody wants the capital expenses.”

The House put $100 million in its budget to address the roadblocks to installing solar panels and other green initiatives, but Marino said it still has to go through a conference committee before ultimate approval.

With the letter of intent from the School Committee, Marino said the town will have a leg up on getting work done for an application if the grant money does become available for the new roofs.

Even with the letter of intent, Marino said the town is under no obligation to move forward with the solar panel project with Solect Energy if the state grant for the new roofs does not come through.

“If we don’t get the roof money, we don’t do the solar package,” said Marino. “If we get it, the benefit to us is not only do we get to put solar panels on the roof, but we get brand new roofs out of it.”

Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard said that there are already issues with leaks at the elementary school roofs, and Marino added that it is a capital expense the town will likely have to address in the future.

The outline of the potential agreement with Solect Energy estimates about $234,000 in electricity savings over the 20-year term of the agreement, Marino said. He said the town agrees to the rate with Solect Energy, and that it is up to Solect Energy to install the solar panels and cover all the costs of installation.