Claremont Road School To Go Solar

Claremont Road School’s electricity will soon be supplied via solar energy, thanks to a decision made February 25 by the Board of Education.

The Board voted to approve an $813,501 contract for the solar installation to EZNERGY NJ of Brick.

The solar panels will be installed on the school’s roof.

Board member Ed Potosnak said the purchase will pay for itself quickly, and will save the district money in the long-run.

“This solar installation would provide a considerable amount of electricity to the school, which is financially beneficial as well as good for the environment,” he said

“I did some quick math … we expect that (the purchase price) will be paid in savings in three to five years, and over the lifetime of the solar panels, which is 20 years plus some, we would save, or make, I don’t know how you want to say it, have in our pockets to educate the children while saving the environment, $2.65 million,” Potosnak said.

“The comparable sharing agreement, where we would lease the roof to an outside vendor, would have saved us $800,000, which is still good, but not as good as by making the purchase ourselves,” he said.

Board member Pat Stanley expressed some concern over the rated energy efficiency of the solar panels chosen, saying that there are other types of solar panels that could be chosen that posted higher efficiency rates.

Board secretary Jonathan Toth told Stanley that the solar consultant picked the highest-efficiency panels that would be able to be installed on the school’s roof.

Stanley then asked if the array panels could be replaced at a later date, and schools Superintendent John Ravally said that would be researched.

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