Solar Schools Team Presentation for Norman RF100 and the Sierra Club

In May 2018 our City Council passed a resolution for Norman to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2035.

In the fall of 2018 the Norman RF-100 committee issued a call for volunteers to assist the city in working toward that goal. They hosted a meeting and got volunteers assigned to one of several committees. The solar school committee met for the first time in November 2018.

From the beginning, the solar schools committee set a goal to get a small pilot solar system installed at one of Norman’s schools. Our plans changed to something more ambitious as soon as we had an opportunity to talk with Jerry Privett who is the Energy Specialist for Norman Public Schools. We first talked to him in early January 2019 – about a week after the school board had successfully passed a bond issue to get new roofs on several schools. Mr. Privett advised us that putting anything on a roof was off the table. He gave us information about the energy usage and electricity cost for each of the schools in NPS. When asked about the possibility for a place for a ground mounted solar system, he advised us that the district had a forty acre lot near 60th and Robinson that was not projected to be used for a school building and was being leased out to someone baling hay.

In early February 2019 we contacted Nick Shumaker who is the Manager of Systems Engineering for Oklahoma Electric Cooperative which provides service to the property at 60th and Robinson. He gave us information about the energy production of the 250 KW solar garden that OEC has on I-35 near Tecumseh. He thought OEC might be interested in using the NPS vacant land for another solar garden. The committee agreed to arrange a meeting between the committee, Shumaker and Justin Milner, COO of Norman Public Schools to see if the school district was interested in pursuing such a project.

The meeting with Justin Milner was held on February 21, 2019. The committee presented information based on the productivity achieved by OEC’s solar garden that projected how much energy various sized solar systems might produce at the 60th and Robinson location. We gave energy projections for systems that ranged from 250 KW to 40 MW solar systems and suggested the amount of money each system might save Norman Public Schools. Milner indicated the school district was interested in pursuing a project on a portion of the land but had no money in its budget to contribute to a solar system.

Nick Schumaker agreed to arrange a meeting between the committee and Patrick Grace who is the CEO of the Oklahoma Electric Cooperative to see if the Cooperative was still interested in pursuing the project.

On April 1, 2019 the solar schools committee and mayor Breea Clark met with Patrick Grace and Nick Shumaker. The committee presented the information on the projected energy possible at the 60th and Robinson location. Patrick Grace said he was interested in pursuing a 1 MW project and would try to secure the funding for it. He indicated he would work with Justin Milner to work out the myriad details of leases, financing, bids, approvals, and contracts that would be needed to make a collaboration happen.

On September 9, 2019 the solar schools committee met with Justin Milner to discuss our further efforts to secure a pilot solar system on location at Irving Middle School. At that meeting Milner advised us that he and Patrick Grace would be presenting a proposal for approval by the NPS School Board for a solar farm at the 60th and Robinson location that would be fully funded by OEC and Western Farmers Electric Cooperative.

On November 18, 2019, by unanimous consent, the Norman Public School Board voted to lease 15 acres of vacant land to the Oklahoma Electric Cooperative. At no cost to the school district, OEC will begin construction of a 2 MW solar farm using 7,208 solar panels at a projected cost of five million dollars. When completed, the system will produce around 95% of the annual current usage for electricity at Norman’s two High Schools which is 30% of the school district’s total annual usage.

Most of the electricity to Norman Public Schools is provided by OG&E and not by OEC. NPS will be receiving net metering fees for the energy that the solar farm produces. We do not know the rate they will receive. At an estimated net metering rate of 3 cents per KWh we project that NPS may receive around $153,000 annually from the energy produced by the solar farm.