WINGATE — At one Bald Eagle Area School District building, solar panels cover more than half the roof. That’s equal to about two-and-a-half football fields— end zones included.

“It’s funny to think, Bald Eagle Area, in the middle of Centre County, one of the most rural school districts — and this is one of the most high-tech buildings in Pennsylvania,” district construction manager Rick Vilello said while standing atop the roof on a foggy day recently.

Lots of districts have tried to lower their energy bills — from building biomass boilers

to turning off teachers’ coffee pots in classrooms. But Bald Eagle Area and Bellefonte Area school districts have taken an unusual approach through a private partnership:

Solar panels provide about half the energy for the Bald Eagle Area middle and high school building, as well as the connected Wingate Elementary School. In the neighboring Bellefonte Area School District, two elementary schools — Pleasant Gap and Marion-Walker — and the high school have solar energy systems, too.

So far the savings from solar energy are modest — about $12,000 at Bald Eagle Area, and less than that in Bellefonte, based on an analysis of data provided by the districts.

But leaders there say the panels didn’t cost the districts or local taxpayers any money, serve as an education tool for students, provide certainty for future budgets, and could become bigger cost savers in future years.

“Really it was just an opportunity that came up during the renovation,” said Dan Fisher, superintendent for Bald Eagle Area, which has nearly finished a $26 million construction project at Wingate Elementary School and the middle and high school building. “And everything fit together.”

But not many Pennsylvania school districts are in a position to imitate Bellefonte and Bald Eagle Area.

“Solar, right now, is not attractive,” Damion Spahr, vice president of business development for the Harris-burg- based Reynolds Construction Management company, told Philipsburg-Osceola Area school board members during a meeting this month.

Two main barriers exist for schools. Federal and solar energy grants have diminished. And the market for solar renewable energy credits — which provide revenue for owners of solar panels — has plunged by about 90 percent since last year.

Carlisle Area School District leaders, for instance, told community members that their $2.35 million investment in a solar system would pay for itself within four years. But in today’s market, the system is bringing in less money than expected. As a result, the payback is looking closer to 10 years.

In Bald Eagle Area and Bellefonte, a partnership with a private finance and investment company, Smart Energy Capital, let the district avoid those barriers. They also aren’t affected by the downturn in the solar renewable energy credit market.

Both school districts don’t own the panels, didn’t pay to have them installed and aren’t responsible for maintaining them.

Instead, Smart Energy paid for the solar panels with help from about $2.2 million in state grants. The private company then installed the solar panels on district roofs.

“In essence, what we’re doing is leasing our roof space,” said Ken Bean, director of fiscal affairs for the Bellefonte Area School District.

Teaching tool

Below Bald Eagle Area High School’s roof, inside its library, a digital monitor keeps track of how much sun the 2,171 panels on the roof are absorbing and converting into energy.

“I don’t think with the fog, they’ll be setting the world on fire,” Vilello said during a tour, “but you can see what the students can see.”

Here’s what the students could see: Since May, when the system was fully installed, the panels have produced 347,335 kilowatt-hours.

Some more images — a tree, a pickup truck and a home — popped up on the screen to give some perspective: Those 347,355 kWh are enough energy to power about 377 homes for one month. And those 347,355 kWh from solar panels prevented 463,692 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

“9,595. It would take this many mature trees one year to reduce the total CO2 avoided,” the screen said. “381,373 miles. The total amount of CO2 avoided = this many miles driven in a 1-ton pickup truck.”

Some science teachers at both schools have started to incorporate the panels into classroom assignments. Students in Myken Poorman’s classroom have used the data to create an alternative energy plan for a company they’ve studied.

“This is a great way for students to learn more about alternative energy sources and it gives them a specific example by seeing the solar panels at work,” Poorman, an agricultural sciences teacher at Bellefonte Area High School, said in an email. “This project also gives the students an opportunity to increase their communication, networking, and research skills.”

A solar pact

The solar panel projects go back to the 2009-10 school year.

Smart approached Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte and about a dozen other districts to see if they would be interested in a partnering to apply for a state grant.

At the time, Konstantin Braun, a Smart Energy manager partner, said the move would save the district at least $12,000 annually.

“With statutory electricity rate caps expiring in the end of 2010, annual savings are projected to at least triple in the future,” Braun said in February 2010.

Later that year, the state announced that it had awarded a $1.4 million grant toward the $2.7 million project at Bald Eagle Area and a $1.8 million grant toward the $5.9 million project at Bellefonte. Smart Energy was responsible for the rest of the costs.

“I’m pleased that this important project — which will save money and protect our environment — has received state funding,” state Sen. Jake Corman, RBenner Township, said in April 2010, after the grants were awarded.

All panels were installed in Bald Eagle Area by May 2010. In Bellefonte, the panels were installed at the elementary schools in April and at the high school by July.

Smart Energy is involved in a civil lawsuit in federal court with one of the contractors on the project. Attorneys for Ray Angelini Inc., of Sewell, N.J., say their client is owed close to $350,000 for the work at Bellefonte schools and $74,300 for work at Bald Eagle Area schools.

In August, Angelini’s attorney filed a lawsuit in Centre County court against both Bald Eagle Area and Bellefonte Area school districts, as well as the Smart Energy subsidiaries responsible for the work. In that case, Angelini sought to file a mechanic’s lien on the solar panels — essentially claiming a right to the property. Oral arguments are scheduled for November.

“We’re just optimistic that after the dust settles ... this thing’s put to rest,” said Carl Beard, Bald Eagle Area’s solicitor. “Really, the district should not have a dog in this fight. But as you know with all litigation, schools inevitably get pulled in because we’re the site of where the construction occurred.”

Buying energy

Bald Eagle Area’s deal calls for the district to pay 4.9 cents per kWh for energy for the entire 25-year contract. In Bellefonte, the district starts out paying 4.66 cents per kWh, but the rate gradually increases every year. In the last year of the 25-year agreement, Bellefonte will be paying 6.92 cents per kWh.

Bald Eagle Area purchases the rest of its energy from another company for 7.19 cents per kWh. Bellefonte purchases the rest of its energy from another company at a rate between 5.34 cents and 6.71 cents per kWh.

The solar panels aren’t the only energy savings for the districts. Bald Eagle Area estimates its solar panels, new geothermal heating and cooling system, and other energy initiatives will save about $61,680 annually. And Bellefonte has pushed energy efficient programs, along with the solar panels.

“Overall, we have recognized approximately in $70,000 in savings,” Bean, the Bellefonte director of finance, told board members earlier this month. “That’s with some of these not online the entire year.”

As part of the deal, after 25 years, the school districts own the solar panels.

Carlisle’s approach

Carlisle Area School District, near Harrisburg, gained national attention for its solar project.

The district used sheep that were owned by an employee to chew the grass near the system, instead of paying workers to mow it. The district expected the move to save $15,000.

The approach to solar energy in Carlisle differs from those taken locally. For one, Bald Eagle Area and Bellefonte both have solar systems on roofs, not the ground — so there’s no need to mow, and bringing in sheep wouldn’t be very efficient.

For another, and more significantly, Carlisle owns its solar panels — a move that exposes the district to greater risk and reward.

Tom Longenecker, Carlisle’s director of finance, and other district leaders started looking into solar energy in January 2009.

The district received $2.45 million in outside money for the project, including $1 million through the economic stimulus. The district broke ground in April 2010 and got the 5,178 solar panels up and running that October.

Officials initially projected the system would bring in enough energy to cut the district’s electricity bill by about $160,000.

Now, almost a year later, the system has met those expectations. As of earlier this month, the solar panels have reduced the district’s energy bill by $160,568.

“We did surpass that even with the rainiest, cloudiest year on record,” Longenecker said.

But district leaders also expected that the system would bring in $446,400 in revenue through solar renewable energy credits.

So far, that hasn’t happened.

“That market has bottomed out,” Longenecker said.

Solar renewable energy tax credits, known as SRECs, work like this: States require energy companies to purchase a certain number of the credits from solar energy providers. The value of those credits fluctuates depending on the supply.

Since Bald Eagle and Bellefonte don’t own their solar energy systems, leaders from those districts never expected to make money from solar tax credits.

Solar renewable credits were selling for about $300 per credit about a year ago, when Carlisle launched its system.

But when Carlisle sold its first batch of credits in March, the price had fallen to $230 per credit.

Then the price kept falling. In May, the last time the district sold tax credits, the price was $87 per credit.

“Right now, they’re hovering at about $45 per credit,” Longenecker said.

So far the district has sold 750 credits, and right now, it’s holding onto 650 others — which can be sold anytime over the next two years.

So far, the district saved $160,415 from the panels — and earned about $110,000 from the sale of tax credits.

“So far we’re very pleased,” Longenecker said. “I think our school board was smart not to bank on the SREC to balance their budgets. So we’ve been able to withstand this downturn in the SREC market. ... Even a worse case scenario, say (the payback) stays around 10 years, I have a full 25-year warranty on the system.”

Ed Mahon can be reached at 231-4619.