Delta Solar Activates New Solar Array for Woodlawn

WOODLAWN - Delta Solar officially flipped the switch last Thursday, Jan. 12, on a new solar panel array located south of Calmer that will offset the power being used by the Woodlawn School District, thereby saving the school district about $1.5 million in energy costs over the life of the system. Douglas Hutchings, cofounder an CEO of Delta Solar, announced that the solar array had gone active during a reception hosted by Delta Solar at the Woodlawn School cafetorium before the school board's regular monthly meeting. In addition to the school board mem-bers, State Rep. Mike Holcomb, State Senator Ben Gilmore and Cleveland County Judge Jimmy Cummings were also in attendance. The solar panel array sits on about two acres of a seven-acre site just south of the Hwy. 114/ Hwy. 63 intersection at Calmer. The 512 kilowatt system consists of 1,280 solar panels. Hutchings said the array will offset about 80 percent of the school district's current power usage and is anticipated to save the district about $1.5 million in energy costs over the life of the system. He said the amount of clean energy generated by the solar panels, when compared to conventional utilities, would be the equivalent of taking 85 passenger cars off the road each year, or growing 301,393 tree seedlings for 10 years. Delta Solar and the Woodlawn School Board held an official ground breaking ceremony for the solar power project last October. Hutchings said this is Delta's first solar project for a school district. He said the company has mostly specialized in solar applications for agriculture. Last Spring, the Woodlawn School District enter into an agreement to buy the power generated by the solar array from Delta Solar, which will offset the cost it usually pays to its conventional electrical provider, C&L Electric. Under the agreement, Delta Solar pays for building and maintaining the solar panel array while the school district agrees t...