School board votes to move forward with “letter of intent” for solar project

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – Keystone Central School Board voting in favor Thursday night to signing and sending a “letter of intent” to McClure Company to “proceed with the design study of a photovoltaic solar system project (PV solar project) for the possibility of entering into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).”

The design study “will be performed in good faith, therefore at no cost or further obligation to the District.” Furthermore, specific utility and operational data shall only be utilized to develop a baseline database specific to our District and will not be disseminated to any other parties.”

The letter of intent starts the engineering process of McClure Company and other work for the project, such as township approvals.

While school board member Chris Scaff originally was asking to see if other solar companies could provide presentations and not to just “jump on the first bandwagon and try to get a better bang for our buck,” other questions arose such as the clearing of trees for the solar array.

Tree removal, as stated by Alyssa Wingenfield of McClure Company, would be the responsibility of McClure, but the income that the wood may generate would go back to the district to “figure the worth of it.”

Board member Elisabeth Lynch gave her opinion as letting it know that it is “no surprise that I am very positive moving forward with lowering electric payments every month.”

Jeff Johnston gave high remarks of McClure Company and the work they had done in the past with the district.

“We have a good working relationship with McClure, and we have seen savings with energy projects completed in the past with our buildings, so I think we can go ahead and see what they can come up with.”

When it comes to the time it will take to complete the project from today to completion, Alyssa of McClure Company said that they are trying to expedite the study to reduce any amount of lag, but it will take a few months to draw up the plans, then perhaps a year’s-time to build and connect with PPL’s grid while the system itself can be built in approximately three-to-six months time.

“In the meantime keep shopping around for your electric supplier to continue to get the best rates,” Alyssa said. “There is no cost to do this piece of the project, and there is no commitment to it at this stage.”

While the motion passed 6-2, Tom Cannon and Dr. William Baldino were the two dissenting votes. Polly Donahay was absent from Thursday’s meeting.