Two New Haven schools will soon be partly powered by solar panels. They join a growing list of schools in the district that are embracing renewable energy.
L.W. Beecher Museum Magnet School of Arts and Sciences and Hill Central School will be the first in New Haven to have solar panel parking canopies.
More than 950 solar panels will be installed. Mayor Justin Elicker said his city will continue to transition away from fossil fuels despite the federal government's backtracking.
“There are a lot of benefits that people know about solar,” Elicker said. “And in the work that we are doing to help support our climate and address climate change. When the federal government has really been backtracking, New Haven continues to take the lead.”
The new panels are expected to save the schools more than a million dollars in operating costs over the next 20 years.
Around 35% of their energy is expected to come from the solar panels once they’re installed.
State Rep. Steve Winter (D-New Haven), who is also the city’s Director of Climate and Sustainability, said the panels will save $27,000 in energy costs in the first year. That number is expected to continue to go up.
“We're all often looking at things that we can do to keep money here in the community, and by utilizing federal tax credits the state's non renewable energy solutions program and power purchase agreement, we can do that,” Winter said.
The panels are expected to be installed this summer.
