Al Larson with the Eureka Springs School Board has “Green Forest” envy. He said it’s brilliant that the Green Forest School District and the City of Green Forest are taking steps to enter into an agreement to purchase power from a solar farm. Electricity bill savings from the school district alone are an estimated at $30,000 to $50,000 per year.
Eureka Springs may soon be following down the same path as the solar farm development company putting in the solar farm in Green Forest, Entegrity, met Monday with the city council to discuss the city’s interest in participating in a similar solar farm project.
Green Forest Superintendent of Education Matt Summers said the project is a great way to demonstrate both stewardship for the environment and of taxpayer funds used for education.
“Every dime used to run the schools is taxpayers’ money and we need to be good stewards of those funds,” Summers said. “So, we are always looking at better ways of doing business. We had visited with Entegrity several years ago looking at LED lighting upgrades and other energy upgrades. Then this year the Arkansas Legislature passed an act that gives tax breaks to companies like Entegrity and allows us to enter into a lease agreement with a third-party electricity provider.”
On Sept. 16, the Green Forest School Board voted to approve going forward with the agreement that it will offset the school’s electricity use from power generated at a solar farm to be built by Entegrity. Entegrity was given 60 days to formalize the contract guaranteeing the kilowatt hour rate.
Summers said the recent legislation allows alternative energy producers to partner with up to two public entities.
“The City of Green Forest is looking at the same thing,” Summers said. “We may end up partnering with the city on the solar farm and it being a larger set of panels than originally proposed. I am a big believer in partnerships. Anytime different partners can benefit, it makes good business sense.”
The proposed contact guarantees the school district’s rate for the first five years with no increases. Summers said they expect to cut their electricity bill in half.
“You can see why we are excited about this,” Summers said. “It is such a considerable cost savings. There is zero risk to us. Entegrity will run the facility and guarantee it even if the panels are hit by a tornado. At this moment, it is kind of a no brainer. You feel good about making a difference protecting the environment, but also about saving money for the taxpayers.”
Entegrity will be producing solar power and pumping it into the Entergy power grid.
The project also demonstrates action to protect the climate from excess carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel generated electricity. Summers said it will also provide stability in budget planning at the district that has 1,378 students and 210 employees.
“With the Tyson’s expansion, we are growing rapidly and this is something that allows us to set our budget for years ahead and know to the penny what we will spend on electricity,” Summers said. “We were a little disappointed that the solar farm might not be located at the school campus or even in town because the company has to look at a lot of different factors when siting the solar arrays. But we will certainly be demonstrating to students a commitment of renewable sources of energy and teaching them about how that fits into the bigger picture.”
John Coleman, regional director for Entegrity, said they have already done a number of solar projects around the state.
“This is just a different mechanism about how to finance the project initially,” Coleman said. “It’s a tremendous opportunity. The legislation allows us to take on the risk as a company. We do all the capital investments, operations and maintenance and then allow the public entity to pay a lower rate which will save them a lot of money. The agreement approved by Green Forest School Board is a project development agreement. It allows us to do an investigation to determine their exact rate, but we conservatively estimate savings of more than $30,000 per year. We’re doing the initial engineering design analysis. We have several projects in similar phase throughout the state including one with the Searcy Water Authority.
“We are looking at offsetting at least eighty percent of their total electricity consumption, which is tremendous,” Coleman continued. “It’s a testament that the cost of solar has come down to make it affordable this way. It also demonstrates great leadership from the schools and from the Arkansas Legislature. It’s going to be a financial savings for schools, but also a big investment in renewable energy across the state.”
The solar project is combined with making energy efficiency improvements for Green Forest and the University of Arkansas Fayetteville such as upgrading lighting, heating and air conditioning systems and windows, among other improvements.
In Arkansas, in return for the investments that benefit public entities such as schools and cities, companies receive a 26 percent tax cut the first two years.
Coleman said there are similar there are similar programs in Oklahoma, Missouri, Mississippi and Texas.
“Each state has different policies,” he said.
Entegrity (https://www.entegritypartners.com/) is a privately-owned company headquartered in Little Rock with 98 employees. The company has done similar solar and energy improvement projects for the Batesville School District and the Arkansas Department of Corrections, and energy improvements at the Harrison School District.