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University of San Diego
09/14/2012 | Press release
Flawed Solar Panels Removed at Schools
distributed by noodls on 09/14/2012 14:31
$400,000
Additional amount the San Diego Unified School District expects to pay annually for energy due to the dismantling of the solar panel installations
Work crews install solar panels on the roof of Adams Elementary School on Wednesday in San Diego, California. Crew (from left) Jorge Reyes, Roger Shope, and Tandy Morris.
Project inspector Norman Shertzman, Jorge Reyes and Tandy Morris work on a solar installation at Adams Elementary School, which is not among the schools where defective solar panels were removed. eduardo Contreras • U-T
Worker Tandy Morris installs electrical lines for solar panels on the roof of Adams Elementary School on Wednesday in San Diego, California.
Tandy Morris installs electrical lines for solar panels Wednesday on the roof of Adams Elementary School in San Diego. Adams is not among the 24 schools from which defective panels were removed over the summer. Eduardo Contreras • U-T
Solar panels were taken down from 24 San Diego Unified School District campuses over the summer after the products were found to have defects including premature corrosion, causing a danger of roof fires.
The manufacturer of the panels, Michigan-based Solar Integrated Technologies, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The district expects to pay $400,000 more annually for energy in the coming years because of the dismantling of the installations.
The panels, installed in 2005, were expected to last at least 20 years. They cost the district nothing to install, although the district agreed to a price for the energy supplied over 20 years.
In response to the defects, the school district is scrutinizing another one of its solar contracts to determine if it will keep similar panels atop roofs at four other schools.
The effect of losing the solar power at 24 schools might not be seen for a year or two, as lower natural gas costs are keeping the district's energy spending low. Within a few years, bills could rise as much as 3 to 4 percent from its $12 million-per-year cost today.
"It's significant," said Tom Wright, a safety manager in the district's auxiliary services department.
The panels were installed under a 20-year arrangement with General Electric, which owned them, and Solar Integrated Technologies, which leased the panels from GE.
The arrangement called for the district to purchase the power from GE and for Solar Integrated to maintain the site over the life of the contract. The district paid GE between $700,000 to $800,000 a year for the power.
The contract is one of four the district has with solar companies. Officials had hoped the Solar Integrated deal, the largest of the four, would save the district about $7 million over 20 years. District officials say they have not followed through to track the actual savings.
Solar Integrated filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in February, and General Electric, after having engineers scrutinize the sites, declined to take over day-to-day maintenance of the panels. GE offered the district the opportunity to keep the panels and maintain them at its cost, but the district declined, citing similar concerns.
GE then paid for the panels to be removed.
"As bad as it sounds, it worked out OK," said Drew Rowlands, the executive director of the district's auxiliary services department, which oversees the district's solar-power contracts. "No panels failed, we resolved it, they are being removed and life goes on."
The district was one of the first public agencies in the region to enter into the type of contract, known as a power-purchase agreement. The district saw it as a way to stabilize its energy bill in an era when San Diego Gas & Electric rates have risen.
"Back then, there were very few players in the marketplace. It was likely a very attractive proposition," said Scott Anders, the director of the University of San Diego Energy Policy Initiatives Center.
