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PPL Solar Power Project Helps East Lycoming School District Go Spartan Green
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The East Lycoming School District is well-versed in the traditional three R’s of education: reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic. Thanks to three PPL-owned companies, the school district in central Pennsylvania has added a fourth “R” to the curriculum for its 1,700 students: renewable energy.
East Lycoming School District has partnered with PPL Renewable Energy, Millennium Design Builders and the McClure Company, PPL-owned businesses, to develop and build a 600-kilowatt solar project that can provide about 50 percent of the power for Hughesville Junior/Senior High School.
The renewable energy generated by this project will be purchased by the district under a long-term agreement with PPL EnergyPlus, which is also marketing the renewable energy credits. This project is partially funded by a $1,000,000 Solar Energy Grant through the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
The project is the latest in a series of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy projects implemented by the school district and developed by McClure. Through those projects, which included the addition of air conditioning and proper ventilation in more than 230,000 square feet of district facilities, the district has already reduced its annual electrical energy use by 540,000 kilowatt-hours from 2002, a 19 percent reduction.
“Through our partnership with McClure and PPL Renewable Energy, we have been able to go green – or, as our students might say, ‘Go Spartan Green,’ ” said David Maciejewski, the district’s business manager. “Not only have we improved the air quality and energy efficiency of the school buildings, but we’ve improved the learning environment for our students as well.”
The partnership began by targeting changes that would provide a high return, such as replacing lighting in school buildings, upgrading system controls, and retrofitting existing heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems.
The school district’s Ashkar Elementary School is the first facility in Lycoming County to be certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an Energy Star facility. A pioneer in renewable energy use among public school systems, East Lycoming also has planted hybrid willow, a short rotation woody crop, to provide fuel (wood chips) for a new biomass heating system at the Hughesville Junior/Senior High School.
“It’s more important than ever for businesses and school districts to operate efficiently,” said Mike Kroboth, president of PPL Renewable Energy. “PPL’s energy services companies and renewable energy business provide our customers with both energy savings and renewable power solutions.”
The East Lycoming School District, which is in rural Lycoming County in central Pennsylvania, was established in 1957 and serves 1,700 students from prekindergarten to Grade 12. The district encompasses 147.6 square miles and includes seven townships (Penn, Jordan, Moreland, Mill Creek, Franklin, Wolf and Shrewsbury) and two boroughs (Hughesville and Picture Rocks). The district includes three elementary schools (Ashkar, Ferrell and Renn) and Hughesville Junior/Senior High School.
McClure is a mechanical contracting, engineering and energy services organization delivering comprehensive energy solutions. Headquartered in Harrisburg, McClure provides HVAC, plumbing, power, process piping systems and energy efficiency solutions for industrial, commercial and institutional customers.
PPL Renewable Energy develops, owns, operates and maintains renewable and clean energy projects in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States, with a portfolio of projects that totals more than 40 megawatts of electricity generation – enough to power 20,000 homes. These include solar panel installations, fuel cells or landfill gas-to-energy projects in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey.
Millennium Design Builders engineers and constructs solar and biogas renewable energy facilities throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the United States.
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9/27/2010 |
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