State College Area School District on Monday became the first participant to sign on to a multi-agency solar power project that has been in development for more than five years.
The school board voted unanimously to approve the 15-year Solar Power Purchase Agreement (SPPA), which is designed for the participants to acquire clean energy at reduced costs. SCASD is the largest among the 10 governmental entities participating in the initiative, with a share of about 60% of the power generated.
“This project’s been a pretty groundbreaking effort bringing together at this point 10 local government entities and agencies cooperating on improving energy price stability in our budgeting, overall fiscal responsibility for our organizations and environmental sustainability,” Board President Amy Bader said. “This endeavor represents years of hard work by a multitude of individuals.”
SCASD will acquire 80% of its energy through the (SPPA) from solar developer Prospect 14 at a rate of 7.3 cents per kilowatt hour in the first year followed by a 1.5% escalator annually. The agreement is projected to save the district $136,542 in the first year, $190,290 annually after that and $2.8 million total over 15 years, according to project documents.
The agreement also includes five-year contract with Direct Energy for transfer of electricity generation and a six-year contract with consultant GreenSky Development to provide ongoing management services.
Project costs, including consultant and legal fees, are billed proportionally among the participants, with SCASD bearing the largest amount at $280,902.
Other SPPA members are expected to vote on approving the final contracts over the next two months.
In addition to SCASD, remaining participants in the SPPA are Centre County, the Centre Region Council of Governments, College, College, Ferguson and Patton Townships, State College Borough Water Authority, College Township Water Authority and Centre Hall Potter Joint Authority.
The project has met with some criticism mostly centered on how $123,000 in unanticipated legal fees were authorized. SPPA Working Group members and other local government officials have said the additional legal fees could have been better communicated to individual governing boards, but were not improperly handled.
State College Borough Council member Josh Portney, who has frequently taken to talk radio to air his problems with the legal fees, held a press conference on Nov. 11 to reiterate those concerns, suggest the borough could achieve its clean energy goals in other ways and at lower costs, and allege that he has been targeted by other local officials because of his opposition.
Borough Council is expected to take up the SPPA in December.
CATA, Centre County Housing Authority, Centre County Recycle and Refuse Authority and Halfmoon and Harris Townships were part of the working group but have dropped out over the past two years for varying reasons. Harris Township was the last to exit the project in September after the kerfuffle over the attorney fees, with Supervisor Frank Harden saying the township could get comparable green energy rates on its own and Supervisor Bruce Lord saying he felt the working group was “in over its head.”
The township may still join the agreement, however, before the final documents are signed, Supervisor Dennis Hameister said at the working group meeting.
Participating entities are projected to save a combined $4.3 million over the course of the 15-year contract with the solar developer, according to information presented to the working group.
Prospect 14 will build a a 22-megawatt solar array on Misty Meadows Lane in Walker Township, and participants will purchase solar energy from the project at predetermined rates. Total project costs for all SPPA participants are $563,310.
The contract sets an operational date of October 2026 for the purchase agreement to begin.
If Prospect 14 should be unable to acquire the necessary to construct the array in Walker Township, the contract requires it to provide the electricity from another of its solar projects, SPPA Working Group Chair and school board member Peter Buck said.
