(Photo Courtesy of Cornell School District)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Allegheny County, PA) According to a release from Rappor Communications, Cornell School District is the first public school district in Allegheny County to go solar, and Cornell School District estimates the system will save them nearly $2,500,000 over the next 30 years thanks to financing and construction by solar developer BAI Group. BAI Group provided Cornell School District with a Power Purchase Agreement, (PPA), which allowed that district to install their solar without investing any money down. BAI Group will lease the rooftop property from Cornell School District and sell the power back to them at a rate that is stable and lower than current electricity rates for the next 30 years under the terms of the PPA. Pennsylvania State Representative Anita Kulik and the Pennsylvania Solar Center, a nonprofit organization, also took a visit to Cornell School District yesterday to take a tour of its system for solar energy. The roof of Cornell School District has a solar system of 1300 kilowatts, which will produce an estimated 1.6-million-kilowatt hours a year, offsetting 100 percent of the yearly energy usage of Cornell School District. The school district chose a roofing solution from Tremco that was bought through the Keystone Purchasing Network (KPN) and Pennsylvania Roofing Sytems installed it.