Vt. company to install solar panels at Obama
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By Daniel Barlow
Vermont Press Bureau - Published: July 30, 2010
MONTPELIER – A Vermont renewable energy company has been chosen to install 120 solar panels next month at a private Washington, D.C. school attended by President Obama’s two daughters.
White River Junction’s groSolar will break ground next month on a unique renewable energy project at the Sidwell Friends School, a private Quaker-run school in Bethesda, Maryland attended by about 1,100 students.
That institution’s elementary school is attended by Sasha and Malia, the daughters of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
“We realize that there are a lot of people interested in this story because of who attends the school,” said Gaelan Brown, a spokesperson for groSolar. “But what we find really interesting is that this project is an example of innovative ways that communities can get solar projects up and running.”
The funding mechanism for the project is unique: Parents of the students and alumni of the school are buying into the project via $5,000 bonds – making the solar project literally owned by the local school community.
Ketch Ryan, the co-founder of Common Cents Solar, a Washington, D.C. non-profit group helping to organize the project, said the school will then buy the electricity generated by the solar panels at a fixed rate. Once the project is paid off, the group donates the panels to the school.
She said this innovative funding structure came together because of the financial difficulties in launching renewable energy projects and the complicated local, state and federal policies, tax breaks and grants available for solar panel installation.
“Since the school is a non-profit, they can’t get the solar tax credit,” she said. “But members of the community, the ones who are buying into this project, can.”
The final product will be a 27.6 kilowatt system comprising 120 solar panels on the roof of the school’s gymnasium. The panels are expected to generate about 3,000 kilowatt hours per month, enough energy to power about five residential homes.
That influx of green energy will offset about 40,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.
The Vermont firm, groSolar, got involved with the project because of personal connections between staff at the company, the school and the non-profit group, Brown said.
Ryan said she co-founded Common Cents Solar nearly three years ago after installing solar panels at her Washington, D.C. home – and she instantly became a celebrity in her community.
“Everyone wanted to know how they could do it too,” she said.
But many people lack the time, funds and expertise to go through the local approval process to install solar panels, she said. That’s when the idea struck: Neighbors could band together to fund and install a solar project, and they all benefit.
“Basically, we do all the groundwork for the company,” Ryan explained. “We answer all the questions people have about solar projects. And then we get the materials for a reduced price.”
There are no organizations like Common Cents Solar operating in Vermont yet, according to Brown. But that could only be a matter of time.
“They’re popping up all over the country,” he said.
The Sidwell Friends School has been called the “Harvard of Washington’s private schools,” although about 23 percent of the students receive financial assistance to attend. Graduates of the school include Chelsea Clinton, Bill Nye and Tricia Nixon Cost, the daughter of former President Richard Nixon and First Lady Patricia Nixon.
Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com
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