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by Brock Owens
Solar power is poised to play a major role at Cambria Heights Elementary School, where the district is moving ahead with a project expected to cover most of the building’s roof with solar panels within the next couple months.
The district has been working toward moving to solar power to save money. While a broader plan for the district’s other campus is still in the works, the elementary school is expected to soon have its lights powered mostly by the sun.
Superintendent Ken Kerchenske said the project is being helped by a state-funded Solar for Schools grant.
“The opportunity became available through a solar for schools grant that is funded by the state, so that will essentially pay for 50% of the cost of the panels and the hardware itself,” Kerchenske said.
Kerchenske said the grant of more than $400,000 helped get the project started and will help the school see savings more quickly. He said federal tax credits could further reduce the district’s costs.
“Through that and through the federal tax credits that we'll get once the panels are producing electricity for a year, that will pay for up to about 80% of the cost of the project itself,” Kerchenske said. “So initially we were looking at maybe a 10 year buy back time before the panels would actually start making the school money, but because the cost of electricity has gone up so much since we looked into the project, that buy back time might be as low as five years now.”
Kerchenske said the entire school will not be solar powered, but the district expects significant savings starting next school year.
“When the kids return next year there will be power generated by those solar panels to power our lights, to power our cooling system,” Kerchenske said. “We think anywhere from 60-70 percent of our electricity will actually be generated by panels we own. That means when we get the electric bill every month, regardless of what happens to the rates, we should only be paying for 30-40% of the power we need to run this school.”
Kerchenske said the district is still working toward making the campus where the high school and junior high sit solar powered, but that will be a much larger project and requires permissions from Penelec. He said the district expects it will take at least another year to complete that work.
2026 Sinclair, Inc.

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