A planned solar array project at Centralia High School has been put on hold.
Ross Calliott of Affordable Gas and Electric reported to the CHS Board of Education on Thursday that solar company NelNet has asked to back out of its agreement with the school for the implementation of solar arrays near the high school building and the school annex. Calliott says NelNet officials cited a lack of available skilled labor, and he notes that NelNet relies on in-house labor rather than sourcing work out to subcontractors. There are also concerns on NelNet’s part about unexpected interconnection upgrade costs and finding an investor to finance the project.
Calliott reported that he has reached out to NelNet to ask if they would be willing to revisit the project with a new time frame for construction and a new rate that is higher than the previously agreed-upon 3.8 cents per kilowatt hour but that would still make sense for the school financially. He says working with NelNet may still be preferable if the company can provide a reasonable offer.
“They’re in a better position than any of the other solar development companies could be, with respect to all of the due diligence that has been done on the site, the interconnection engineering that they’ve done with Ameren, things of that nature. They understand this project. If all that is needed is to extend the time frame beyond what we had hoped this year and to raise the rate to something that still represents good savings to you guys, but isn’t quite as good, they would still make sense. Assuming I get good signals from them over the next couple of weeks, I think it might make sense to continue down the path with them.”
School officials could also seek a new agreement with a different company. Superintendent Chuck Lane says the setback is disappointing but has not cost the school any money.
“That’s really what we’ve lost is that time; we haven’t lost any money. But if we can take that blueprint and give that to another company that maybe was the runner-up the last time we did this, those companies are still out there. It is a setback, but it’s not a deal killer where we just can’t do it. There are still ways to do it, so what we are waiting on now is for a new price from them (NelNet) on what it would take for them to stay in it.”
Construction on the arrays was slated to take place this year. However, Calliott says that if NelNet were to perform construction it would not occur until the second or third quarter of 2025
