The construction phase of the Douglas County, Colo., school district’s effort to reduce electric bills by installing 31 photovoltaic (PV) arrays is underway.

Young Colorado minds will soon find themselves reading books, learning via computers and taking tests, all with help from the sun. But given the geographic size and scope of the project poses its own challenges to solar installers.

“We were awarded the contract in August and just started doing the work within the past 30 days,” said Scott Estridge, president of subcontractor Power Plus Electric, a Bowlin Group subsidiary.

Power Plus Electric was selected as the subcontracting installer for the project. Considering that the power-purchase agreement (PPA) was announced in late August, that’s a pretty short turnaround between signing the agreements and starting work.

While Power Plus has worked on PV projects before, this project is complicated. It’s being built at schools, and most construction is happening during the semester, while children are in school.

“It’s actually one of the more difficult construction projects,” Estridge said. “The security is very tight.”

For instance, all the workers on the project must pass criminal background checks; the array racks must be installed when children aren’t at school, and all tools must be taken offsite to protect the children from any accidents, he said.

“It’s not like your typical project where you can go and knock it out,” he said.

Still, they’ve been knocking it out pretty quick.

“We have our first rack of panels loaded onto Heritage Elementary,” said Lee Smit, district energy manager. The first array should be completed within a week, he added.

REgeneration Finance, LLC is financing the 3 megawatt, $18.3 million project under a PPA with the school district, and Premier Power is developing and maintaining the project.

Under the PPA, the district will actually pay less for electricity generated by the PV systems than it does for electricity the system gets from Xcel Energy, said Smit.

“Until recently we would’ve been paying a higher rate,” he said.

He explained that federal and Xcel incentives reduced the cost of the power-purchase agreement to the point where it was below regular grid-supplied electric costs.

Image courtesy of NREL.