Laconia School Board approves solar project, high school renovations

LACONIA — The Laconia School Board approved two notable infrastructure initiatives at its June 21 meeting. The district will allocate $6.7 million in federal Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief, or ESSER, funds, in addition to $500,000 in district capital reserve funds, toward renovations and updates at Laconia High School. The district will also enter into a group net metering membership through the New England Solar Garden.

LHS renovations

ESSER funds will go toward renovation of the LHS cafeteria kitchen, which, according to project manager Chad Montrose of Rist Frost Shumway, has not been updated since its construction in 1983. Changes, according to Superintendent Steve Tucker, will make the kitchen more efficient both by reducing its energy consumption and by better equipping kitchen staff. Harvey Construction, which has worked with the district before, will contract the renovations. 

Bathrooms will also be addressed to provide more private stall options and better facilitate supervision, something that has been planned for at least a year, Tucker said.

HVAC systems are set to be updated following the results of a 2020 air quality assessment, according to Montrose.

Because these ESSER funds expire at the end of September 2024, this construction is set to take place over this summer and next, though, Tucker said, more finalized schedules are still in the works. There is urgency, Montrose said at the June 21 meeting, to begin these projects as soon as possible because of typical construction delays and the potential delays posed by ongoing supply chain interruptions. 

The budget for this project, including contingency funds for if, or more likely when, costs exceed budget projections, total $7.2 million, with about $1.3 million going toward the kitchen, $582,000 going toward bathrooms, $2.8 million going toward HVAC updates, 10% set aside in contingency, and the remaining going toward soft costs and markups. Of that $7.2 million, $6.7 will come from ESSER funding, and the remaining half-million will come from the district’s capital reserve for renovations fund which, as stated at the meeting by district Payroll/Accounting Specialist Diane Clary, currently contains $1.78 million.

Other potential renovations considered by the district were not selected because of limited ESSER funds available, specifically a renovation of the locker rooms and the creation of a life skills classroom in the Huot Technical Center.

In an interview, Tucker said the district chooses which renovations to pursue based on administrative feedback about which projects will have the strongest impact on the highest number of people. 

Solar project

The council voted unanimously to join a contract with New England Solar Garden for a group net metering solar energy project available to Laconia municipalities.

By joining the contract, the district will still receive its electricity through its current contract with Eversource, but the raw source of its electricity will now be a solar power generating facility developed on former landfill property near Route 11B and Sterling Drive. 

In group net metering programs, according to New Hampshire Senate Bill 98 enacted in 2013, renewable energy facilities share surplus energy with contracted group members, who receive a rebate from the solar facility. In 2021, New Hampshire House Bill 315 made it possible for “municipal hosts” to join group net metering programs, whereas they had previously been open to private entities. The district would begin its participation in the net metering program in 2023.

According to details about the agreement provided by the school board, Laconia School District allocates their expected amount of kilowatt hours, in this agreement 2.5 million, to the solar facility. For the energy it produces, the NESG receives the default service rate from Eversource. The rebate passed on to the district from NESG will be the product of how much energy it uses multiplied by an agreed upon percentage of the default service rate. The higher electricity rates are, the larger the rebate the district will receive. 

According to the school board, conservative estimates predict that this rebate program could earn the district just over $11,000 in 2023, and a total of $262,000 by the end of the contract in 2040.

Learn more about group net metering at puc.nh.gov/sustainable%20energy/GroupNetMetering.html#:~:text=In%202013%2C%20with%20the%20enactment,holders%2C%20known%20as%20group%20members. 

There is therefore a multifold benefit to the city, said Tucker, to joining this partnership. The city not only gets to participate in a renewable energy program but also is guaranteed new revenue and gains from a resource already making money for the city, as NESG leases its facility property from Laconia.

The district joining the solar project brings further benefit to the city from infrastructure independently managed and already approved by the city, incurring no cost and taking on no responsibility for equipment or maintenance of that infrastructure, Wesley Anderson, director of public works, said. The city is not prevented from taking on its own solar projects in the future if it desires, it must only maintain its same kilowatt hour commitment to NESG.

The solar panel field was approved by the city in 2018 to be developed by New England Solar Garden on a former landfill property off of Route 11B and Sterling Drive. The project was the only proposal for development of that land made to the city council at the time. NESG leases the property from the city and development of the facility is set to begin next year, according Anderson. NESG’s parent company, Denver-based GSSG Solar, and its partners have organized 11 group net metering projects, constituting 21.5 million kilowatt hours of group net metering, in New Hampshire since 2021.