Caruthersville schools, city ‘Flip the Switch’ to celebrate solar installations

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. — The City of Caruthersville and Caruthersville School District “Flipped the Switch” to celebrate the completion of multiple solar installations at Caruthersville Elementary School, Caruthersville High School, Wastewater Plant, Water Plant and the Diane Sayre Recreation Center.

Procured and administered through an Energy Savings Performance Contract, the projects involved several locations of solar energy panels to provide onsite reliable energy production as well as LED lighting upgrades. The projects, which had been in development since 2018, produce 860,544 kWh of energy annually, enough to power 70 Missouri homes for a year. Both projects are 100% funded by savings.

The School District houses a 100kw ground mount system at the elementary School, a 100kw roof mount array at the middle school and one 85kw system on the roof of the field house. These installations, combined with the upgrades to efficient lighting, are guaranteed to save $113,000 and over $1.9 million through the lifetime of equipment.

The City will draw energy from 100kW ground mount systems at the Diane Sayre Recreational Center, Wastewater Plant and the Water Plant. Combined with the City’s LED lighting upgrades, the project will produce $84,000 in annual savings and over $1.5 million in lifetime savings, all guaranteed by Entegrity.

The “Flip the Switch” ceremony began at the Diane Sayre Recreation Center and then finished at the elementary school.

Representatives from the City of Caruthersville, Caruthersville School District, Entegrity and local press were in attendance.