The Fairfax County School Board approved a rooftop solar power program for McLean High School and other schools on April 24. Contract purchase agreements were awarded to 17 elementary schools, five middle schools and three high schools in Fairfax County.

The School Board first approved participation in the solar power purchase program by FCPS in March 2021 and has since selected Sun Tribe to serve as its solar contractor for the next 25 years. Sun Tribe will install solar panels at the approved schools and will sell the energy generated from the facilities to the schools at a rate that is expected to save FCPS over eight million dollars over the span of the agreement.

“All of this ties back to the incredible energy conservation work that we have been doing in FCPS to be good stewards of the community’s tax dollars for years,” said Karl Frisch, school board member at-large, at the April 24 meeting. “Since 2014, FCPS has reduced its energy use by 31%, surpassing the goal set 10 years ago for a 20% reduction.”

McLean High School will pay 15.2 cents per kilowatt hour, totaling $617,309 in savings.

“This is not just beneficial from a carbon emissions perspective, this is fiscally responsible,” Frisch said. “I appreciate the enormous efforts made to save money because when you save money, it comes out of the operating budget, which is the same budget that funds teacher salaries.”

Students strongly support the plan given its expected environmental and cost-saving benefits, which will increase if the cost of traditional energy utilities increases.

“Installing solar panels is a very good idea because it will provide clean energy and make McLean more sustainable,” junior Maya Chowdhary said.

Additionally, FCPS recognizes that their solar plan wouldn’t be possible without student commitment.

“[We would like] to highlight…this student-inspired work,” Frisch said during the meeting. “Were it not for the passion of our students advocating for solar [panels] on the schools, we probably would not be here today.”

Although there have been upfront obstacles to selecting a provider and determining the details for the agreement, FCPS board members and students hope that the solar panels will have long-term benefits for both FCPS and the environment.

“This makes sense from a taxpayer perspective as well as from an environmental perspective,” said Mateo Dunne, school board member at-large. “That’s why we should continue to explore every avenue to save money and be more sustainable in our operations.”