Work nearly complete on solar panel project for Swampscott schools

SWAMPSCOTT ï¿?ï¿?” It may be winter vacation, but people at Swampscott Middle School and Swampscott High School are still catching some rays – as the solar arrays for each school are scheduled to be completed by the end of this week.”We’re up against a Jan. 1 deadline – there are financial incentives to finish by the end of the year,” said Assistant Town Engineer Victoria Masone. “It’s exciting.”Garrett Baker, Swampscott schools facilities director, said Wednesday that all the major work on the project has been completed.The project is a public-private partnership that includes the Town of Swampscott, Swampscott Public Schools, Johnson Controls Inc., which is the contractor and an industrial technology company, and Constellation Energy.The project includes retrofitting the high school roof with 1,666 photovoltaic panels (solar panels that convert light energy to power) and the middle school roof with 294 panels. The panels will produce approximately 22 percent of the high school’s total annual electricity usage and 13 percent of the middle school’s total annual electricity usage, Masone said.The project is financed by developers, not taxpayers.Energy products and services provider Constellation Energy, through its retail energy business, will finance, own and maintain the solar power systems.In return, the town has agreed to purchase the power the project produces at a set rate of $0.137 per kilowatt per hour for 20 years, Masone said.Project officials originally planned to complete the project over the summer, but construction was delayed when the original financier backed out of the deal in late July.Constellation Energy joined the project in October, but much of the construction work had to occur after school hours and on weekends or during vacations.Swampscott High Principal Layne Millington said in late November that the school had no disruptions due to the construction.Now, construction is in its final stages as Masone said developers have financial incentives to complete the project by the first of the year. She predicted the deadline would be met, but the two buildings would “see a lot of work” this week.Wednesday afternoon, Tim Sletterink, a project engineer with Johnson Controls, and Matt Ursillo, the project manager with Constellation Energy, walked across the high school roof completing their final inspections of the panels – each about half the size of a card table.Ursillo said that the panels are pretty rugged. They generate power even when covered with snow-and heat up when generating power so snow melts pretty quickly.Rain washes most dirt and debris away to keep the panels working effectively. “Bird poop is the biggest problem,” he said.Cyrus Moulton may be reached at [email protected].