Charles City school board puts temporary halt on proposed solar array facility

A proposal for a solar array project to help power Charles City County Public Schools hit a roadblock after questions arose from school leaders Tuesday night.

School board leaders elected not to pursue entering into a PPEA master agreement that would allow exploration of procurement opportunities when several questions on cost savings and a timeline of commitment didn’t sit well with representatives.

In the May school board monthly meeting, Sun Tribe Solar made a formal presentation about constructing a solar array farm on 6.4 acres of land owned by the school. Unlike the recent county approved sPower project that will sell solar energy, the proposed Sun Tribe Solar would be used specifically to power both of the county schools, with the only property not being powered is the bus garage. The solar project’s location placed the facility between the bus garage and the school board office.

However, at-large representative Steve Fuhrmann raised several questions about the proposal.

“While I fully support solar power, there are a number of serious issues with this proposal,” he commented. “There is no cost data, there is no agreement, and what has been forwarded to us does not have enough information.

“It seems like we’re putting the cart before the horse,” Fuhrmann continued. “This has a fixed rate over a 30-year period but what happens if there is a decrease in the cost of electricity?”

Representatives of Sun Tribe Solar said the cost to pay them would be set and that if the project completed all the phases for approval, immediate savings would occur. But District 3 representative Martha Harris echoed Fuhrmann’s concern over the length of the proposed contract.

“I remember asking at the May meeting if the contract could be lower,” she said. “I’m not comfortable locking us in something 30 years down the road.”

Fuhrmann chimed back in, saying that the cost to the schools would be a minimum contribution of $5 million over the proposed lifespan.

“Basically, the contract says we have to buy whatever you use,” he said, pointing to the payouts of $190,000 a year. “That is a cost that we’d have to pay, no matter how much electricity we’d use.”

While representatives of Sun Tribe said the savings would offset the costs, school board leaders weren’t sold on the information they had received. According to superintendent of schools David Gaston, the school system pays $28,000 a month on electricity.

Despite a motion made by at-large member Preston Adkins to provide permission to enter into the master agreement that would allow school board attorneys to review the service agreement, it did not receive a second. School board members did agree to revisit the proposal in the future.