LM Nov-Dec_2021

does is it opens the pathway where school districts are not having to compete with private business, such as Walmart and Costco. Very large corporate brands can more easily pivot their decision making on energy whereas a school district takes a little bit longer. It’s more of a deliberative approach that requires buy-in from a broad group of stakeholders. This bill opened the pathway for schools to access their own state renewable energy credits so that they could install renewable energy on their school district property, including on their roof or on their open land, and begin to reduce costs. The use of utilities, as we know, has gone up in cost on an average of probably six or seven percent over the last 30 years per year. If we can lock in the cost today for electricity, and you are still paying that same cost in 10 or 25 years, that’s going to be a real savings over time for any school district. The long-term overarching goal was to create an environment for schools to be able to move in that direction. Renewable energy credits, or REC’s, are sometimes referred to as a way for the state to incentivize the development of more green-energy projects. The REC’s are paid for by a very small charge on all Illinois customer’s utility bill. The utilities then pay those REC’s out to developers of solar projects. They do it on a $1 per megawatt hour of production basis. In this way, the utility gets to claim the green-energy production as part of their portfolio, and the developer gets much needed funds to help pay for the large cost of green-energy projects. One of the things that’s really key for listeners, superintendents, school boards and school business officials to understand is that, under the Future Green model, there is no money coming out of the pocket of the local school district. They don’t have to bond. They don’t have to set a special levy. They don’t have to spend any cash out of their pockets or out of their reserve funds. There’s no hooks to it. There’s no crooks to it. It’s straight up. You just don’t have to put money out. We have a model that does that for you. What are renewable energy credits, and why they are important to the installation of solar panels?

What if one of the solar panels cracks or breaks? Is there any annual maintenance cost that school districts incur?

Jason Nevel:

That’s the beauty of the Future Green model. There are no upfront costs to the district, there are no operational costs to the district, there are no maintenance costs and there are no insurance costs. That’s really important to note. Future Green handles all of the costs. It’s all included in your PPA price, and PPA stands for Power Purchase Agreement. That’s the price where your energy is set once you sign the agreement. Let’s say if you were paying $100 per megawatt hour on your bills. Your PPA price would be somewhere around $60 to $70 dollars per megawatt hour and that number pretty much stays the same for the entire period you’re under contract. All of that includes your maintenance, operations and insurance costs.

Haj Young:

What should a superintendent do after reading this?

Jason Nevel: Haj Young:

Jason Nevel:

The easiest thing to do is to go on the Future Green website and fill out the form that allows you to contact Future Green and submit your last month’s power bill. Future Green will look at your power and usage and determine what savings you could potentially have. We will then contact you with a no obligation proposal.

Haj Young:

To take advantage of the REC’s, will school districts have to go online and fill out some forms with the state or will Future Green handle that?

Jason Nevel:

Future Green handles the entire renewable energy credit application process.

Haj Young:

Dr. Brent Clark:

How soon should superintendents be exploring this opportunity?

Jason Nevel:

They should contact Future Green right away. In fact, we’ve already received a number of inquiries from school districts that are interested in the Renewable

Haj Young:

11 LM Nov./Dec. 2021 continued...