BURBANK — The Board of Education will review the district's updated report on a proposed solar rooftop project for Luther Burbank Middle School on Thursday.
Discussions with the facilities oversight committee about a solar-powered roof began as modernization of the school progressed, said Tim Carroll, the district's resource conservation manager.
"The district is pretty interested in doing solar energy projects and making the roofs more efficient," Carroll said.
But the committee expressed reservations about a new solar roofing system during a February meeting because of concerns about the longevity of the roofing materials, a board report stated.
The committee did not discuss costs but came to the conclusion that the district would have to pay a third-party ownership firm for the electricity, Carroll said.
According to a board report, third-party ownership of the roof would act as another electrical service provider, which is not permissible under the district's guidelines, meaning that the project would not have been feasible.
Since the committee's discussion about the solar roof, the district's representatives from facilities services and the architect for the modernization projects have looked into alternative methods of providing solar technology.
"I think just to have it brought back to our attention would be a good starting point," said Chris Weerts, a facilities oversight committee member.
Facilities services considered two technologies.
The first was the use of a solar photovoltaic system, which converts energy from the sun into electricity with the use of solar films embedded in the roof membrane. The second involved a conventional system that requires the installation of solar panels on the roof, the board report stated.
The second option is more feasible because it requires less electrical wiring, Carroll said.
Equipment required by either of these choices would be owned either by the district or by Burbank Water and Power.
"With the panels, there are a lot of vendors that sell them," Carroll said. "When the sun is shining on them, they get most surface area exposed to the sun."
The estimated cost for solar panels that would produce 376 kilowatts of electrical output of solar energy — approximately 2,000 panels — would be about $5.7 million, Carroll said.
The facilities oversight committee will likely discuss the solar-powered roofing project at its next meeting on Jan. 9, Weerts said.
