Allied Facilities representatives presented an updated proposal to the Cary School District Committee of the Whole on Sept. 22 to install rooftop solar on three schools and to combine an overlay roofing project at Cary Junior High with the solar installation. The presentation emphasized federal tax and Illinois rebate timing, domestic-content incentives and the project’s estimated payback timeline, and staff said the board could be asked to approve one, two or all three projects at next week’s board meeting.

Supporters said the package would use federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and other incentives to shorten the district’s payback period. An Allied representative said the domestic-content option raises upfront costs but increases the ITC available to the district and shortens the year when the project becomes cash-positive (Allied’s presentation listed cash-positive years of roughly nine to ten, depending on options). Allied also said an on-site dashboard would let students and the public view real-time generation and that Prairie Ridge’s installation produced about 12% more energy than projected.

The proposal matters because Allied’s team told the board several incentives and supplier availability are time-sensitive. Allied and staff cited the ITC/direct-pay option and ComEd inverter rebates, and staff said some domestic-content panels made available after another community project could be reserved only for a limited time. Allied said construction must “start before July 4” to meet criteria for one incentive, and contractors and panel availability could affect that schedule.

Board members asked technical and procurement questions: whether Allied would perform roofing work directly (Allied said it would bid the roofing work and oversee subcontractors), how warranties would be handled (Allied said it provides a two-year workmanship warranty in addition to manufacturers’ product warranties), and whether installing solar would require roof penetrations or interfere with planned HVAC work (Allied said placement avoids roof penetrations and that HVAC work could be done later). Staff said overlaying the Cary Junior High roof as part of the solar contract would allow a portion of roof cost to be included in the solar project for ITC calculation.

Cost and funding: staff said Allied’s package for the full solar scope was presented as a long-term investment, and Shepherd, the district’s finance lead, said the district could cover the solar scope from maturing investments and still meet other capital plans. Allied said the roofing portion presented to the board would be a fixed price and that they had deliberately estimated conservatively, expecting some line items (infrared coring results) could reduce the roofing line but not increase it. Allied stated it would charge an overall design/oversee fee above subcontractor costs to assume change-order risk; Allied described that premium as covering unforeseen items and management of subcontractors.

Several members asked about monitoring costs; Allied said a portal/dashboard package that would collect production data and present a public-facing display was roughly $22,000–$25,000 for all three sites, plus an ongoing platform subscription of about $1,200 per year. Allied said sizing the arrays to meet school consumption reduces the portion of generation returned to the grid (which ComEd credits at a lower rate) and improves district economics.

Next steps: staff said they will prepare slimmed contract documents and funding/graphic talking points for next week’s board packet if the board wants to move ahead. No formal vote was taken Sept. 22; Shepherd said staff recommended the full package but left the final direction to the board.