Get Solar Smart
Schools benefit brilliantly from solar power
Sunergy are passionate about bringing solar to schools because they are usually in an ideal situation for making the most of solar energy as the majority of power is used during daylight hours when solar panels are generating. This means savings on power bills are maximised so chances are your solar savings will be significant and can even effectively become free power for your school.
It gets better: grants are available in some cases to assist schools with solar investment, plus there are different ways of paying for a solar power system—including no cost to the school! We help establish which will be the best option for your School.
It’s a smart move—as well as being education by example in financial efficiency and environmental sustainability.
Making sense for the budget
As well as generating energy, solar power ‘generates’ big savings on your power bills.
This means a system can effectively pay for itself in as little as 5 years!*
Or, when you choose not to own the system, you are guaranteed cheaper rates.
How much will you save?
Put the Power in your hands!
*Most schools have mainly daytime power consumption, so can usually gain significant savings on electricity expenditure, which can effectively pay for the solar system within as short a time as 5 years. After that it’s:
FREE power!
The sooner you install, the sooner you’ll be saving a lot on power bills with a free daytime supply, or even nighttime—with a battery storage option!
We give you a projected Return On Investment (ROI) by analysing your site, using NIWA’s historical sunshine data and current energy prices. You’ll be able to get an accurate idea on how quickly the system will pay itself off.
These graphs show an expected return and payback projection based on a 4.16kW system, saving $0.30c per kWh of grid supply.
The sooner you go solar, the greater the savings ~ so why hold off?
With the solar technology available today, it has become economically viable—and even profitable—to install solar power for most schools.
Solar Photo Voltaic (PV) systems are cost effective, easy to install and do not require resource or building consent, making them the clear contender for auxiliary energy production both now and in the future.
Still have questions? Give us a call!
Accurate, Customised Data Prediction
In order to design the optimal system, we analyse your site, your power consumption and even the way your school operates. To do this we collect real-time, local data on sunshine hours, angles, etc., to best position and spec the array and system. Our experience and the data technology we use enable us to give an accurate projection on performance metrics—so you can make an informed decision and, if you decide to go solar, we’ll be able to design the optimal system.
Actual Data Example
This graph shows actual results on a dairy farm we installed in Canterbury (dairy is similar in terms of daylight consumption).
Light orange (left) was our prediction,
Dark orange & lined (right) was actual production—averaging just above predicted.
Dark orange (right lower) was actual consumption—lower than production.
(click graph to enlarge)
In this case, solar production was greater each month than power consumed, resulting in maximum energy bill savings, plus a supplementary income from power exported to the grid.
How Solar works for schools
Stay Connected to the Grid
Educational facility solar systems are still connected to the grid, like normal home solar, but are larger—normally at least 10kW, or as much as several hundred kW’s—depending on the size and power demand of the school.
Custom Designed
We design the system size and configuration specifically for your site based on a comprehensive analysis of your power usage and site aspect factors.
Optimisation
We then provide ongoing monitoring of your power use and the PV panel production to further analyse and see if there are ways to shift load to make the most of the production curve of the solar system.
Flexible Finance
There are various options for how to cover the cost of the initial installation: No cost to the school—through a Lease or a Power Purchase Agreement; purchase outright (with grants available in some cases) or with finance.
Whichever way you go, you’ll be spending a lot less on power bills and freeing that budget up for educational spending!
How it’s All paid for
Are you concerned that any capital invested on a solar installation would be better invested directly into your school or educational facility? That doesn’t need to be the case!
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OUTLAY
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SAVINGS
The choice is yours
Choose no upfront cost, or invest in maximised savings
We can power your school with no upfront cost to you, or help you make the most of long term savings.
Sunergy offer 3 options for solar supply: Purchase outright, Lease, or PPA – Power Purchase Agreement. Pros and cons for each are below. And talk to us—we’ll work with you to establish which is going to be the best option for your school. There may also be funding available—we can help you find and secure it.
Purchase
Purchasing the system outright is the most straightforward option and yields the greatest potential gains. You pay upfront for the entire solar PV system. You arrange any finance, or Sunergy can provide finance.
ADVANTAGES
- Effectively have a free electricity supply once the system is paid off
- Maximise return if not utilising a “middle man” financier
Obtain the best pricing by paying upfront - The system is depreciable at circa 17% P.A. providing a good tax credit
- Retain control of your system as the energy market, power prices and technology changes
DISADVANTAGES
- Upfront capital expense
- Finance costs if borrowing is required
- Any opportunity cost of what else might be achieved if the capital was invested elsewhere
Lease
The Educational Solar PV system is funded via our Lease Company and a contract is entered into in the same way you would lease a vehicle.
The term and monthly payments are negotiable as is the option to lease to buy, however, typically we work on a 10-year term with a further 1 x 10-year right of renewal, based on the system having an expected life expectancy exceeding 40 years. The customer pays for insurance and maintenance.
ADVANTAGES
- No upfront capital cost
- The lease is a fixed cost every month, not affected by power production or usage
- Lease payments are a deductible expense just like your monthly power bill
- You effectively lock in or hedge the cost of a portion of your power for the term of the lease
DISADVANTAGES
- You do not retain ownership of the asset
- Overall savings will never equal that of an outright purchase
- You are committed to the installed technology for the term of the lease
Power Purchase Agreement
A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is where the Educational Solar PV System is installed on a property or building but does not belong to the school, nor does the school/property owner have any control over it.
The power produced by the educational solar system is sold to the occupier of the property, usually at a reduced rate compared to what their existing retailer is charging. There are several ways of invoicing each month, which are negotiable to suit. Essentially, a PPA is a contract to purchase power from one supplier at an agreed rate, usually with price increases built in, for a long term.
ADVANTAGES
- No upfront capital cost
- PPA power bill is a deductible expense just like your monthly power bill
- You effectively lock in or hedge the cost of a portion of your power
- The supplier bears maintenance and insurance costs
DISADVANTAGES
- You are paying a premium to cover the cost of administering the PPA
- Depending on the contract entered into, the price of power produced may go up
- You are locked in regardless of what happens to the energy industry
- You have no control over the asset
- Regardless of what energy saving measures you initiate, you still pay per kWh of power produced/used so you will likely not maximise savings or self-generated consumption
- What happens in the event the supplier closes down or liquidates?
Still not sure? Ask us to help evaluate which option will be best for your school.
Some of our solar Installations in Schools
We’re stoked with the jobs we’ve done for local schools! Click on a school to view with details
Testimonials
Halfmoon Bay School | Te Kura o Rakiura
☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
We are totally rapt with the new system Sunergy installed and can’t recommend Andy and the team highly enough. They have been outstanding from the initial planning and help with funding applications to the installation and ongoing commitment to the Island and the education of our future ratepayers.
The 19kW solar power system including battery storage has dramatically reduced energy consumption, increased our energy resilience, helped us begin our journey of replacing non renewable energy sources and reduced our carbon emissions. Reducing reliance on fossil fuels fits particularly well with our school where the curriculum has a strong emphasis on our local natural environment.
Halfmoon Bay School/ Te Kura o Rakiura is a silver EnviroSchool, committed to a long-term sustainability journey where our students connect with and explore their environment, then plan, design and take action in collaboration with the community.
The installation of a monitoring screen in our school office and the work Andy and the team from Sunergy are doing around educating our students means they can not only watch power being generated in real-time but have an understanding of the whole process.
Nga mihi
Kath Johnson | Teaching Principal
Windwhistle School
☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Andy from Sunergy helped us apply for funding via the Sustainability Contestable Fund, for the system they installed.
Andy was great support and offered friendly and professional advice throughout the process. Our application was successful, which I put down to Andy's excellent advice. He was also a godsend as we worked our way through the Ministry paperwork. Andy is always prompt to reply to emails and goes above and beyond to source information if he doesn't have the answer immediately to hand.
The installation of our system went very smoothly. All workers on site were professional and friendly with our children—answering questions and explaining the system to us all! I highly recommend Andy and the team at Sunergy—we couldn't be more pleased with our system or the service provided.
Bronwen Seaward
Principal | Whindwhistle School
Book a Free Assessment
Talk to us or ask us to visit and assess how solar can work for your school. We can appraise your particular situation with accurate, real data.