SHREWSBURY – Members of the Police Station Building Committee discussed installing solar panels on the roof of the recently constructed police station during its meeting on July 17.
“This is a pretty exciting project,” said Patrick Collins, an integrated resources analyst at SELCO. “We’re here to support the town in solarizing public buildings.”
At the meeting, SELCO officials said the proposed solar system would incorporate both rooftop and parking canopy panels. The system is approximately 210 kW DC; the average home system is around 10 kW. After being installed, the system would generate 230,000 kWh of energy, enough to power roughly 25 homes in Shrewsbury.
The solar panels would last 20 to 25 years and would cost $560,000. SELCO staff explained that just over 25% of the cost – $144,000 – would be funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, making the net cost only $392,000.
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The energy produced by the panels would mean SELCO could purchase less energy; over 25 years, SELCO projects the panels would save roughly $478,000. In total, the panels would result in $86,000 in net savings, which would be distributed among all SELCO ratepayers – not just the police.
The financial benefits also come alongside the numerous environmental benefits of solar energy. The solar panels would also give SELCO some stability when navigating the often turbulent energy market.
According to Assistant Town Manager Keith Baldinger, similar projects may soon be proposed for other buildings.
“For the past six or seven months, I’ve been working with SELCO to create a path to put solar on our public buildings… We identified other buildings working with SELCO, such as Sherwood [Middle School], Spring [Street Elementary School], [Walter J.] Paton [Elementary School], Town Hall, the senior center, and other buildings that we could put solar on to make an entire townwide project. The [police station] would be the first prioritized building because it’s so new,” Baldinger said.
