PPA – Houghton STAR

Last spring, the new array of solar panels on Houghton’s field of dreams promised a viable option for energy.

It was the result of the initiative that began three and a half years ago when Houghton was first contacted by Smart Energy with the idea for solar panel partnership. “Houghton was not in a financial position to pay for anything like that,” said sustainability coordinator Brian Webb. Through the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Houghton was able to begin installing the solar panels in September of 2014. The financial arrangement allows Houghton to lease the land for WGL Energy without paying capital, buying the energy it produces at a “predetermined price” for twenty-five years. Webb explained that “because the energy is connected to the grid it, is sold to RGNE,” Houghton’s utility company.

According to Webb, there are two aspects determining the overall success of the endeavor. “It’s automatically successful, environmentally speaking,” he said, since the driving factor was “wanting to install renewable energy and lower the carbon footprint.” The solar panels produce nearly fifty percent of Houghton’s energy. “It’s the equivalent of 300 homes worth,” Lauren Bechtel ‘16 explained, recalling the visual representation of the 300 paper homes on the quad last spring. Bechtel was involved in the installation of the solar array as one of the student representatives, a link “between the student body population and the leaders that made it happen.”

Webb also discussed the “side benefit” of the financial yield. While he admitted that examining savings is “preliminary analysis” due to the differing billing cycles of the solar and utility companies, it looks promising. “The difference between what we pay and what get paid is really attractive,” he said. Since the solar panels were finished in April, Houghton’s savings have amounted to $73,000 according to Webb. These savings counter the concerns of some Houghton students regarding the solar panels last spring. “There was a lot of confusion and misunderstanding,” Bechtel explained. She noted that while students worried about the cost of the solar panels, the PPA and likely financial benefits attest that “Houghton wasn’t choosing solar panels over student interests.”

Both Bechtel and Webb are pleased with the success of the solar panels. Bechtel noted that Houghton still has the largest solar array of any New York State campus. “Even if the students don’t see them everyday, they’re still contributing to the sustainability of our college,” she said. “It’s been exciting to see it go up,” Webb said. Having overseen the project through the phases of organizing grants, funding, design, and construction, he expressed “finally getting it installed is a big success.”

Houghton College plans to begin construction on 11 acres of solar panels in the Field of Dreams at the end of next week in hopes of reducing electrical costs by half. A grant for a fully funded and operated solar array, given to Houghton College by Groundwater and Environmental Services (GES), will generate roughly three million kilowatt hours of electricity per year; this is equivalent to fueling electricity to 400 homes for a year.

The process started about two years ago with Brian Webb, Houghton College’s Sustainability Coordinator. As per his job title, Webb looks for ways to “be good stewards of the environment and achieve as many renewable energy options as we can,” one of these options he has chosen to pursue has been the installation of the solar array. The installation of the solar array will reduce the college’s carbon footprint by 23% each year by the use of natural sunlight.

GES and Houghton have agreed on a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement, or PPA, that will save the college anywhere from $1 to $3 million over the course of the years. The process of the PPA is as follows: GES operates the solar array while the college pays for the energy at a set amount and receives the energy generated. Rochester Gas and Electric (RGE) will then buy the energy generated from Houghton at market rates.

According to Webb, “There are few issues more important than how we, in the twenty-first century, treat the natural environment.”

“But at what cost?” asks, Katherine Tomlinson, one of Houghton College’s Eco-Representatives. Students like Tomlinson question, not just the monetary cost of the solar array, but also the environmental cost such as the habitats that will be affected in the marshland where the panels will be placed.

Nonetheless, the The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) affirms that Houghton College will not only have the largest solar array in Western New York, but the largest on-campus solar array in the country. Webb said, “People will recognize Houghton as a school that is willing to make efforts towards clean energy and students can learn first-hand how to promote it.”

The road used to access the solar array will extend from the trail, and will not interfere with the athletic fields, during or after construction. Construction of the array will continue through to the end of January. After construction, GES and RGE will work with Houghton activate the panels so they will be ready for use by early spring.