February will cap off a 10-year energy-savings project for the Inter-Lakes School District in New Hampshire.

Phase I of the project, which was planned with the assistance of Honeywell, focused on upgrading the district’s buildings. This included weatherization, lighting upgrades, replacement of sub-optimal HVAC systems and installation of building controls. Phase I reduced oil consumption by 50% and electricity usage by about 38%.

A 345.6kW solar array powers a high school.The savings enabled the district to self-fund Phase II, which cost $4.7 million. The second phase includes the installation of a solar photovoltaic array producing 345.6 kW, enough to provide 100% of the high school’s electricity needs. Excess electricity is fed back to the grid under terms of an agreement with New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC), which has a program for member-installed net metered generation.

This solar array is one of the largest in NHEC’s service territory. It is expected that when Phase II work has been completed, the school district will have reduced its oil consumption to near zero and reduced energy costs by 40%.

According to Honeywell, solar power generated by the array is equivalent to offsetting the carbon dioxide emissions of 422 barrels of oil or 39 passenger vehicles per year. The 960 solar panels generate power equivalent to the electricity use of more than 40 homes.

ReVision Energy has installed two other solar energy systems in the school district. The first is a two-panel array, which is expected to produce 20.25 MWh per year. The second is a solar hot water system that can heat 350 gallons of water per day. Some of the planners of the project explain their philosophy in this video, which also shows a sampling of the different energy saving building system improvements.