Great Bend USD 428 Superintendent Khris Thexton told the school board Monday that he’s still looking into the possibility of adding solar panels to the roofs of some district buildings to reduce fuel costs.

“I’m not looking for any action to move forward,” Thexton said before sharing what he’s learned so far, including a solar investment analysis from Hutton Energy Services.

“Mainly I was curious, because I know Junction City installed one at one of their new elementary schools. They actually put it in a field because they had space where they could put it. It wasn’t on the roof, it was out next to the school. They saved quite a bit; they even moved all their summer school classes to that building because they could run the air conditioner and that solar field reduced the cost. They could shut down the other buildings and save the funding. So in theory, it’s a good idea.”

The Hutton vendors looked at Great Bend High School, Jefferson Elementary School and Lincoln Elementary School.

“I think we have multiple avenues for the high school, especially with its larger roof,” Thexton said. 

A 50,000 watt system with panels on the GBHS roof would cost $100,000, but with a 30% tax credit, the net would be $70,000. The savings after the first year would be about $7,100. The system should pay for itself in 8.62 years and over 25 years the savings benefit is estimated to be over $200,000.

Anything with a payback of less than nine years is considered a good investment, he said.

The life expectancy of a system is 25-35 years. The vendors also said the systems don’t just stop working after 25 years, Thexton said, but they do degrade over time and generate less power. “Usually they figure the industry standard is a half percent per year.”

The designers try to match the size of the project to the usage, Thexton said. With the proposal, there are only two months where solar production would outpace what the district has used in the past. The payback for solar is not good based on what a system such as this can generate, “so they want to try to find that sweet spot where what you generate offsets costs.”

Jefferson Elementary School also had an estimated payoff in 8.87 years and overall 25-year savings of $252,000 with a 65,000 watt system.

A 60,000 watt system at Lincoln would have a payoff after 9.04 years and 25-year savings of $229,000.

Thexton said that in addition to the 30% tax credit available to schools, there may be another 10% credit if American-made solar panels are purchased.

“I just want to go through the information a little more before I get serious on how far we want to push forward with solar,” Thexton said.

A board member asked about solar regulations.

“Because we’re not generating solar to sell, we’re not a commercial generator. We’re using what we generate, so the regs don’t affect the district, the way I understand,” he said.

“It’s still a hot button issue,” Thexton said.

Assistant Superintendent John Popp added, “And to be clear, these solar panels will be going on top of our roof, so they wouldn’t be covering any green space.”

The panels might also add a protective covering to the roof, Thexton said.

“I know it’s a real hot button. Before we even went down that road, we’d make sure everything checked the boxes.”