Wisconsin schools are saving money with solar thanks to the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act

The School District of Black River Falls is one district in Wisconsin that has taken advantage of federal tax credits provided by the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act to install solar panels.

It’s a sunny, breezy end-of-summer day as Kent Wienman takes a break from putting up a new scoreboard on the football field and heads inside the Black River Falls High School.

He weaves his way through the hallways and stairwells. The school district’s supervisor for buildings and grounds climbs up a ladder to emerge on the roof of the school.

As the sun shines down, Weinman beams with pride at the exciting new project he peers out over. “This is something I’ve been looking at and have been interested in since starting this position six or seven years ago,” Weinman said. “This is a big deal.”

The Black River Falls School District has installed about 240 solar panels on the high school, which is a 100 kilowatt (kW) solar array.

“People are ready to move forward,” Weinman said.

One of those people is Kathy Smetana. She and her husband raised two kids in the district. “I am excited that the district is looking to the future to use the sun and solar panels to help offset the expenses of electricity,” Smetana said. “Yes, it’s an expensive project on the front end, but the benefits for the future of energy saving will be felt for years to come.”

How’d they pay for the panels?

For years, Weinman had that pipe dream for his district, knowing that installing solar panels was cost-prohibitive. “You realize the price point—the payback wouldn’t be for 20 years—we’d only get five years of free electric,” Weinman said.

But now, as students return from summer break for the 2024-2025 school year, Weinman’s fanciful hope is shining bright. The $290,000 project became a smart and sustainable investment with the help of a utility rebate, plus some efficiency upgrade funding from the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The 2022 federal law provides for the largest investment in clean energy in US history.

“When that tax rebate came out, that was the selling point right there,” said Weinman. “It was like, ‘Okay, these will be paid off and we’ll be running free.’”

The district has received a one-time Focus on Energy Wisconsin rebate for $13,500 and a one time IRA tax credit of $87,472.

“There’s a 30% rebate that wasn’t available to public schools until recently—a tax rebate,” Weinman explained. “We’re tax-free as a school, and now that it’s offered, that’s what pushed us over the edge—that tax rebate, which actually came to more than $87,000 that we get back—30% back for the project.”

“That dropped our payback rate down to 12 years and the solar panels are supposed to have a 25-year lifespan, so after 12 years, it’s all free electric. This will pay for itself and then it’s 13 years of free electric.”

The IRA’s new “direct pay” option allows tax-exempt organizations, including public schools, to receive cash payments instead of tax deductions for solar systems installed between 2023 and 2034. This can help schools offset the initial cost of installing solar energy systems.

Ben Terpening of Upper90, the company in Sun Prairie that installed the panels, said they’ve worked with three other school districts to install solar panels, all utilizing the IRA: Nicolet Union, Kettle Moraine, and Monticello.

How much is the solar savings?

The amount of solar installed at K-12 schools in the US has tripled since 2015, according to Generation 180, a nonprofit committed to advancing clean energy. Today, more than 6 million students attend a solar-powered school.

In BRF, the goal is to have about 22% of the energy the building uses be produced using solar, which will create an annual savings to the district of more than $15,000.

But, Weinman said, there’s another part to the savings picture. “You’re saving $15,000 in cost but that’s also lowering our demand from the utility,” he explained. “By lowering the demand from the utility, that can drop us into a lower rate, and then we might be able to save another $10-15,000 just with our rate charge.”

“That’s the hope—so maybe $25,000 in savings annually.”

Meghan Sovey of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin explains that every utility is required to have a tariff  that contains the rates, terms and conditions of service for customers. The Public Service Commission is responsible for reviewing and approving utility tariffs.

“Based on its size, the Black River Falls School District is in a customer class in which demand charges exist, as defined in the Black River Falls Municipal Utility tariff,” Sovey said. “In this case, lowering demand would result in lower demand charges.”

Weinman said there’s even a chance to sell electric back to the utility. “You try to size the install so you’re just creating enough electric so you use it all yourself because the rate on selling back to any grid is not great,” said Weinman. “But obviously in the summer, we’re not running all of the air handlers at the prime time, we’re not running the air chillers unit—it’s the best time to make our electric—so we’re making the most power when we’re unoccupied.”

From summer to winter—what happens when it snows in western Wisconsin? Weinman doesn’t expect to have to climb to the roof with a broom or shovel in hand. “They produce enough heat on their own that the snow load basically melts right off,” he said.

Even with a thin coating of snow, light is able to reach the panels to produce electricity, and once the snow starts to slide and only part of the panel is exposed, power generation is able to happen again.

“We know there will be some days that solar production is down due to snow,” Terpening (with the installation company) said. “This is accounted for in our calculations.”

“Snow isn’t a major issue and will actually help clean the panels while it’s melting and slides off.”

Terpening also points out the savings to the environment. “This clean energy production of more than 134,000 kW per year is equivalent to 95 tons of carbon dioxide.”

He said each additional ton of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere costs society $185 per ton in economic damage due to the negative effects of climate pollution. He also said this clean energy generation is equivalent to the consumption of 220 barrels of oil or 106,000 pounds of coal burned.

The fate of these solar tax credits is at risk

The US Department of Energy said K-12 school districts spend nearly $8 billion annually on energy costs, which is the second largest expense after teacher salaries.

Wienman said the IRA makes it so even smaller, rural districts like his “can afford to do some of these renewable energy projects.” The federal solar tax credit is available to districts through 2034.

But threatening these sustainable ventures is the conservative blueprint, Project 2025. On page 365, the conservative wishlist for a second Trump presidency lays out plans for the Department of Energy and related commissions:

“Support the repeal of bills like…the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which established new programs and are providing hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to renewable energy developers, their investors, and special interests, and support the rescinding of all funds not already spent by these programs.”

Looking forward to the future

Weinman gives glowing reviews over the switch to solar energy, along with the generous federal tax credits and rebates that helped make the work worthwhile.

He’s excited that when students return Aug. 27, it’ll be a learning tool for them as well. “There’s going to be a TV monitor in the foyer when you come in and you’ll be able to see what the panels are producing at all times,” Weinman said. “So maybe at noon the kids can look and see, ‘Wow, we’re really maxing this unit out,’ and on a cloudy day, they’ll say,’This is why we need battery back-up.’”

As the years go on, he’s hoping the district will be able to rely less on electricity and more on the solar energy powered by their own schools. “If this works out well at this school, my hope in four to five years is that we can do another solar array on the elementary campus,” Wienman said. “We’re always using power and any way we can cut costs in the long term—that’s the goal.”

“It’s good for all of us—it’s good for the environment, it’s good for the taxpayers, and it’s good for the kids to see what we’re doing here.”