Lehighton Area School District will continue to pursue a solar energy project after its board of directors voted Monday to choose one of three proposals submitted over the last several months.

Ecogy Energy, Novitium Energy and Provident Energy/Wundur all submitted plans to install a roof-mount solar panel system on Lehighton’s three schools, which would allow the district to save several million dollars each year on energy costs.

“I’m not sure everyone understands that this comes at zero cost to the district,” director Barbara Bowes said in support of the project. “The only possible cost would be if we had to remove the solar system to replace the roof or something like that and all of that is checked before hand to make sure it won’t be a problem. Should it become an issue, there are companies who can install ground-mount panels.”

Following Monday’s vote, Board President Joy Beers said a comparative overview of the three proposals would be reviewed at Lehighton’s February workshop meeting and one of the companies would then be chosen for the work.

Novitium, for example, proposed a 25-year solar agreement that called for savings of $3.4 million in electric costs over that time, while Ecogy estimated a $2.1 million savings.

The savings estimate has gone up in recent weeks, however, as Lehighton Borough Light and Power told the district it could generate more power from the panels on a monthly basis than it was initially expecting.

“Lehighton Light and Power doesn’t do net metering, so we can’t carry electricity from month to month if we generate more than we need,” LASD Business Manager Edward Rarick said. “But we can use whatever we generate in the current month, so that would put us in the 60-70% generation range each month as opposed to the 40% we were expecting.”

Given that adjustment, Rarick said, the district is expecting to save more than $5 million in energy costs over the 25 years.

“That is a lot of taxpayer money saved over that time period and when you look at the fact that the district doesn’t pay anything, that is a big benefit,” Bowes said.

Lehighton’s current utility rate is 15.61 cents per kilowatt hour, while Novitium’s proposed first-year solar rate was estimated at 8.15 cents per kilowatt hour with a 2% escalation per year.

“I think this is a good move for us, with no up front cost, to lock this in for 25 years,” board member Nathan Foeller said. “Anyone paying an electric bill right now knows how bad it can be when that rate jumps on you. Having consistency is very beneficial.”

Companies that have submitted proposals to Lehighton have also touted the educational components of the project. Ecogy representatives told the board the company would do a presentation for students on the basics of solar energy as well as design a data analytic program for students interested in learning about a real-time monitoring system utilizing actual building consumption and solar generation data.

Kiosks in the school lobbies, the company added, would show live data readings to highlight the system and trees would also be planted on campus, with the support of students, to symbolize the environmental benefits of clean energy.

Jim Thorpe and Panther Valley are two of the other local districts that have done studies on a solar project within the past year. Tamaqua has also added a solar project.

Speaking before the vote, district resident Dache Zelrick urged the board to think twice before signing on the dotted line.

“I don’t think solar is a good choice,” Zelrick said. “It is a short term solution for a long term problem and I haven’t seen enough evidence to support it over a long period of time.”