Earlier this year, Cheshire Academy was applauded for its green initiative that put them in a position to install LED lighting throughout the entire campus.
The project was the first of its kind at Cheshire Academy, and now the Cheshire Public Schools are following suit.
At the Cheshire Town Council meeting on June 16, Chief Operations Officer Vincent Masciana presented the Eversource Energy Small Business Energy Advantage Program for Municipalities (SBEA).
“The project that we are recommending tonight is affecting six of our schools,” Masicana said. “… The upgrades that are being done at the six schools are primarily to take all the non-LED lighting that’s remaining and convert it to LED. This would mean LED lighting in our offices, storerooms, gyms, and auditoriums that weren’t converted as part of the 2015 larger Ameresco project.”
The six schools that will be receiving the new lighting will be Norton, Chapman, Highland, Doolittle, and Darcey Schools and Dodd Middle School.
In 2015, Ameresco Energy Efficiency was hired by the Cheshire Board of Education to complete approximately $10.2 million worth of work installing LED lighting at different school buildings. According to Masciana, this project with Eversource will “take things way down the road” as far as replacing the lighting is concerned, and the contractor, J.K. Energy Resources, was chosen specifically by Eversource.
“The financing for this project is pretty impressive,” Masciana added. “The total project cost is $139,097, and Eversource is providing an incentive directly for this [lighting] project … of $53,922. So basically 39% of the project cost is funded directly by this Eversource incentive.”
According to Masciana, the Town of Cheshire will be earning $22,662 in savings per year, with the payback period being only 3.76 years. He also pointed out that the energy consumption from lighting will decrease by 57%, and after the project is completed almost every school building in Cheshire will have LED lighting.
“Does this project include the Cheshire High School stadium lighting project?” asked Councilor David Veleber.
“No, it does not,” responded Masciana. “The stadium lighting project will be upgraded through another program, but through the same contractor. The lights for the stadium will be much more elaborate than the ones in the SBEA program.”
After the presentation, Council Chairman Rob Oris voiced his support for the project, and noted that he was impressed that Eversource wanted to move as quickly as they do on the project
The project was passed unanimously by the Council.