Solar Projects Under Way At New Haven Schools

Joseph Bebon | Solar Industry Mag

Connecticut-based Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC has announced it is completing rooftop solar arrays on 11 public schools in New Haven, Conn. The solar arrays will enable the City of New Haven to lower its annual electric costs with clean, renewable energy.

Greenskies says it will provide solar power to Ross Woodward School, Benjamin Jepson School, Mauro-Sheridan School, East Rock School, Clinton Avenue School, Columbus Family Academy, Brennan Rogers School, James Hillhouse High School, Hill Regional Career High School, Wilbur Cross High School, and John S. Martinez School. According to the company, the aggregate project size across all schools will exceed 1.8 MW and annually offset over 2.5 million pounds of CO2 – the equivalent of taking approximately 280 cars off the street.

“The City of New Haven is proud about this installation of solar arrays, which will more than double its solar generation capacity to 2.8 megawatts,” says Mayor Toni N. Harp. “It’ll showcase the city’s determination to lead by example and provide for students at these 11 schools a hands-on lesson about how renewable power can save literally tons of carbon emissions each year.”

Installation at a number of schools began in September 2017, and all work is expected to be completed by early 2018. Each of these projects will be owned by Clean Focus and maintained by Greenskies. The city will create savings by purchasing power from the arrays at a discounted rate when compared to traditional utility costs.

“Greenskies, a Clean Focus company, is pleased to help the New Haven schools in lowering their energy costs and redeploying savings into other important programs and services. These 11 schools complement our large portfolio of municipal, commercial, small utility, and community solar projects. We look forward to a long relationship with the City of New Haven over the lifetime of the project,” says Stanley Chin, president and CEO of Greenskies and Clean Focus group.