Central Regional Will Be Off Power Grid by September

At first glance, the metal brackets lining the back fields of Central Regional High School look like bleachers.

But they are actually part of a $10 million solar energy construction project that won't cost district taxpayers a penny.

The roughly 6,000 solar panels now being installed will provide enough electricity to power both the high school and middle school on the 98-acre campus off Forest Hills Parkway, schools Superintendent Triantafillos "Tom" Parlapanides said.

A private company has provided the panels in order to earn renewable energy credits to meet New Jersey's mandate that 30 percent of energy generated be renewable energy by 2015, he said.

The district is locked into an 8.9-cent price per kilowatt hour once the panels are up and running, much less than the current 17-cent per kilowatt hour now paid to Jersey Central Power & Light Co., Parlapanides said.

"We buy all the electricity at a pre-negotiated price," he said. "We are locked into a price. We have a nine- to 10-cent savings per kilowatt hour that adds up to a lot of money."

Power companies can earn Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) to meet the 2015 mandate, according to the state Board of Public Utilities website.

Right now, Central Regional spends $890,000 a year on electricity for both the high school and the middle school. A number of energy-saving measures are already in place, including motion sensors in bathrooms that turn lights off when no one is present, a four-day work week in the summer and early school closings in June to save on air conditioning costs, Parlapanides said.

Those measures have pared the district's electric bill down to the $700,000 to $800,000 range. But the solar panel project will result in more significant savings, he said.

The solar panels for the middle school should be completed by August, Parlapanides said.

"We are ahead of schedule," he said. "We hope to flip the switch in August. "We're hoping for Sept. 1 for the high school."

The Central Regional School District has five sending towns — Berkeley Township, Ocean Gate, Island Heights, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park.