Solar for WI K-12 Schools: Resource Center
We've collected resources and put together video content with the intent to assist school administrative teams, boards, staff, students, facilities crew, or other school affiliates (“Solar Planning Teams”) throughout all stages in the solar project development process. We present information about the technology, site analysis, project finance, and procurement strategies used to deliver on-site solar. You can use the resources from start to finish or you can select certain section a la carte, based on your school's needs. Email amandas@midwestrenew.org with any questions. Thanks for joining us!Fundamental Resources for a WI School Solar Project
- Dr. Ronald Russ, Superintendent Merton Community School District - Located in Waukesha County, Merton just completed installation of a 389 kW DC PV system in November 2019, which is largely financed through a low-interest loan and is expected to save the district $70,000 in energy costs each year.
- Andy Weiland, Business Administrator, Oregon School District - The district has had several PV systems on various schools for several years, and is now planning to incorporate a solar PV system over 500kW into new construction of a net zero elementary school
- Lee Black, Buildings & Grounds Director, Darlington Community School District - In January 2016, the district completed the installation of a 156 kW solar photovoltaic (PV) system on the roof of their elementary middle school building. The system is expected to generate approximately 200,000 kWh of electricity per year, or about 19% of the entire district’s use, saving them about $12,500 in usage charges and roughly $3,250 in demand charges.
- Merton Community School District (2019) - 389kW DC - installed on both Merton Intermediate and Merton Primary, saving the district $70,000 annually.
- Oregon School District (2020) - 649kW DC on Forest Edge Elementary School, the first net-zero school in WI.
- Madison Area Technical College (2018) - 1.85 MW
- Darlington Elementary/Middle School (2015)- 156 kW
- Northland Pines School District: Elementary, Middle, & High School (2017) - 331 total kW
- NABCEP Certified Installer Locator (website) - online database of professional certified solar installers
- MREA Business Member Directory (website) - list of our business members, searchable by PV installer, among other categories
- Focus on Energy Trade Allies (website) - searchable database of contractors and service providers who partner with Focus to deliver energy efficiency and renewable energy products and expertise to WI residents and businesses.
This final section discusses how to get the most out of your school's PV competitive solicitation evaluation process. Topics include a general overview of competitive solicitation process, things to consider prior to going to market, various instruments for market interaction, and designing award negotiation and management to maximize confidence in your solicitation process, outcomes, and selected contractor.
Topic Shorts
This 27 minute video identifies some general issues related to procurement requirements and best practices for schools. It briefly discusses procurement theory, institutional rules and guidelines, development and use of rubrics, and post selection considerations.
Featuring: Mark Pruitt, The Power Bureau, LLC Principal
This 18 minute video will present and summarize the general process of competitive solicitations, help your school understand the unique aspects of purchasing solar PV, and discuss how to effectively communicate your RFP deliverable objectives to your target audience.
Featuring: Eric Rehm, MREA Solar Finance Manager
This 16 minute topic short revisits the RFP-included evaluation criteria discussed in Module 6 to reiterate the importance of proper evaluation. This video discusses, in general, how to effectively measure and score received proposals and emphasizes the importance of following through on the evaluation criteria your RFP had publicly provided to potential contractors. It goes over best practices in evaluating proposals using your own established evaluation criteria.
Featuring: Eric Rehm, MREA Solar Finance Manager
This 17 minute topic short goes over MREA's contractor selection rubric that we've provided to course participants in the module resources. This short will outline key metrics to evaluate when internally evaluating and selecting a contractor for your PV project. We encourage participants to take the rubric and make it their own, individualizing it to their wants and needs.
Featuring: Nick Hylla, MREA Executive Director
This 19 minute topic short will provide you with a developer perspective on best practices to include in RFP development and evaluation for a PV project for your school. Many of the suggestions outlined in this video reflect concepts introduced earlier in this module; this helps demonstrate that solar developers also agree with and prefer the use of these best practices.
Featuring: Shannon Fulton, Straight up Solar Vice President of Development
In this 9 minute topic short you will hear from Highland Community College and the school's process in developing RFP evaluation criteria. They will discuss what worked for them, the main categories they recommend considering, and resources to utilize.
Featuring: Jill Janssen, Highland Community College VP of Administrative Services
Topic Resources
- Contractor Scoring Template (spreadsheet) - MREA's in-house utilized and recommended scoring sheet template for selecting contractors. Edit this document and utilize this in conjunction with your own RFP, or, MREA's RFP template
- Evaluating of Proposals: Suggested Guidelines (PDF) - best practices document by CEIA
- How to Choose a Solar Installer (webpage) - an article by EnergySage providing tips on selecting your solar installer