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Solar Panels Provide Energy, Education Opportunity To Orleans Schools

By Taylor Haggerty

Posted April 6, 2018

While trees or cornfields surround some Indiana schools, Orleans Elementary School has two acres of solar panels right next to its playground.

Fifth graders spent an afternoon last week learning all about the panels from the engineers who installed them – and the students had a lot of questions.

The solar panels are part of a passion project from the Orleans Community Schools Corporation. Superintendent Gary McClintic says they first considered solar power five years ago, but couldn't afford it at the time.

So they focused on other ways to reduce their energy use, like LED light fixtures and a high-efficiency cooling and heating system.

"After we got that completed, the timing came around where the solar panels became less expensive," McClintic says. "There was a way to pay for those without an upfront cost."

McClintic says that instead of paying more than $2 million up front, the schools will make annual payments of about $160,000. That's what they used to spend on electric bills.

After 20 years, the panels will be paid off completely – without any tax hikes or debts.

McClintic says the panels have been fully operational since January.

"We've had some immediate results in our electric bill," McClintic says. "We went from around $4,000 around here to about $200 dollars."

The benefits go beyond saving money. Now that the panels are installed, engineers are visiting to teach students all about how they work. And screens stationed around the school show students just how much power the panels have generated each week.

The high school has also installed more than four acres of panels. McClintic says those panels will start providing power soon.

And Orleans isn't the only community pursuing solar power. Michigan City Area Schools and Sheridan Community Schools are each powered in part by their own solar panels.

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