By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
     ALPINE — At the April 13 Alpine Union School District (AUSD) board meeting, members were presented with a proposal to install solar panels at two local schools. The board has one month to decide whether to move ahead with the project.
     “We don’t have a lot of time for this,” said AUSD business manager Rob Turner. “We’re looking at the next board meeting having to make a decision.”
     The rush is fueled by a possible rebate that the district could receive from the San Diego Regional Energy Office (SDREO) through it’s self generating incentive program. The SDREO program is in place to encourage school districts to invest in environmentally friendly forms of energy generation. To be eligible for the rebates, the district must comply with certain program milestones, including the adoption of a plan within 60 days.
     “With the rebate this project really becomes financially viable,” Turner said, “it will basically pay for itself.”
     The district must also have the project up and running within 18 months in order to receive the rebate. The amount of the rebate will vary depending on the cost and wattage of the systems installed, but could be in excess of $700,000 by preliminary counts.
     The endeavor would be a joint effort between AUSD and 3rd Rock Systems & Technologies, Inc., a national developer of renewable energy projects. 3rd Rock President, Vijay Israni, and director of sales and marketing, Elliot Jaramillo, attended the meeting to speak to board members about the projects and solar energy production.
     “The numbers presented here are based only on experience,” Israni said, “not hard data, due to the short time frame we’re dealing with.”
     “I believe that we have a social and economic responsibility to pursue clean, renewable forms of energy,” Jaramillo said.
     The district and 3rd Rock Systems & Technologies, Inc. recently successfully completed a 30 kilowatt solar electric generating system on the lunch shade structure at Joan Mac Queen Middle School. The $274,500 cost of that solar system was offset with $186,753 from the California Energy Commission Solar Schools Rebate Program.
     District staff members subsequently completed applications for soar system rebates for all district sites through the local SDREO. At the time of application, the district was informed that it would be placed on a waiting list for funds and could in theory wait several years for the money. Then recently the district unexpectedly received notice that they had reached the top of the list for a 206 kW system at JMMS and an 86 kW system at Alpine Elementary School.
“We don’t know exactly what happened to put us at the top of the list,” Turner said. “Often, districts will apply for the maximum number of project rebates and then will realize that they just can’t do them all, so they drop out.”
     Some members voiced their interest and support for the solar projects at Wednesday’s meeting. However, the board will ultimately have to vote on whether or not to move ahead at the next board meeting, scheduled for May 11.

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