By David Avitabile
SCHOHARIE - The New Year will be a big one for the solar project at Schoharie Central School.
SCS Superintendent David Blanchard announced at the November school board meeting that the solar project is scheduled to be connected in early January 2026. The final connection will be made once National Grid runs power lines from Route 30 up the side of the school property to the location of the power poles installed by Aris, the contractor in charge of the project. The project could be powered up by the end of January.
"There is still some work to be done, but minimal," Mr. Blanchard said.
The system is 749 KW and the district expects the savings to be around $180,000 per year when it is online, he added
The solar panels have been in for some time and the transformer is in place, but the district was still waiting for a key piece, the switchgear. The long lead time on the solar project was due to delays getting the switchgear. Much of the project was completed by the beginning of the year. The road to the project in the "lower 40" had been installed and significant work by mid-December was done.
The solar field was built on one acre behind the track in the "lower 40." The total cost of the EPC was $2,750,000.
The project is part of the district's $25.9 million building project that was approved by voters in May 2022. The district looked at either putting more solar panels on building roofs or on the back property before making a decision.
National Grid has also provided 90 percent of the cost for the building of the electric vehicles stations, which were also part of the project. Any revenue would go to the district. Each station have two chargers each. The stations were installed last summer and operational by the time school started. Two of the stations were built by the construction area and the rest near the bus garage.
The project does not require any new local taxpayer funds as state aid and the current building reserve will cover the costs.
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