BEVERLY — The City Council has authorized spending $568,187 in grant money to build a solar array on the roof of the new high school.
Mayor Bill Scanlon said the grant money is available and work can begin anytime.
"We hope by the time we get this and the (existing) solar field tied back in that it will take care of 30 percent of the building's energy under normal circumstances," he said.
The city is pooling grant money from three sources to pay for the solar array and to connect the adjacent solar field and wind turbine to the new, four-story academic building, which opened last month.
The grants include a $300,000 Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Green Schools Installation Grant, a $169,600 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Agreement, and a $98,587 Clean Energy Grant.
The 82.8-kilowatt array will be installed by Ostrow Electric of Worcester. The city is also considering partnering with an outside investor who would take advantage of renewable energy tax credits to upgrade the existing 100-kilowatt solar field, Scanlon said.
The solar field, which has been on the hill next to the high school for 30 years, and a wind turbine produced about 10 percent of the high school's energy needs, Scanlon said.
Scanlon said the roof array project itself will cost "not more than $425,000." The additional grant money will be used to connect the solar field as well as undetermined other uses, he said.
The solar installation should help Beverly receive an additional 2 percent in reimbursement for the $80 million high school project, or $1.6 million, from the Massachusetts School Building Authority as part of its Green Schools Program, Scanlon said.
Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or by e-mail at pleighton@salemnews.com.
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