Garrett County Board approves 25-year solar power purchase agreement for Route 40 Elementary, 3-2

Garrett County Board of Education members voted 3-2 on Sept. 29 to approve a 25-year power purchase agreement with BAI Group LLC for an off-site, ground-mounted solar array to serve Route 40 Elementary School and other district locations.

The superintendent recommended approval of the PPA, which BAI Group presented as a no out-of-pocket-cost arrangement for the district. Sal Ido of BAI Group told the board, “there is no cost, out of pocket for the district,” and described BAI’s role as owning, building, operating and maintaining the solar array and using Potomac Edison’s virtual net metering to apply generated energy to multiple campus locations.

Board members had questions about savings, equipment origin, risk and interconnection. The board asked for and was offered periodic reporting on production and savings; Sal Ido said the company can provide an annual report showing kilowatt hours produced, the cost the district would have paid for those kilowatt hours and a comparison to the projections. Ido cited a first-year savings estimate of about $210,000 and a projected annual production of roughly 3,770 megawatt-hours, saying the PPA price offer is “6.7¢ per kilowatt hour” compared with the district—s estimated purchasing rate of “12.29¢” at the aggregated locations.

The superintendent said the project ties to a state grant from the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) that allowed a more aggressive power‑purchase offer and confirmed the district plans to replace the Route 40 boiler with an electric system. The superintendent said, “We will be placing, replacing the boiler at Route 40 with electric, and we would expect this power purchase agreement, the solar field to actually feed about half of our electric needs throughout the county.”

Board members pressed BAI on risk exposure. Ido said the primary district exposure is performance risk: if the system underperforms, the district would buy electricity at higher rates than projected while BAI bears production risk. He also addressed potential Potomac Edison charges for net metering, saying the company reviewed state net‑metering regulations and had an interconnection approval: “as it currently reads, the general assembly does not allow Potomac Edison to charge you anything for net metering. So it—s a 0 cost right now,” he said, while noting the contract includes a standard clause that would assign any future net‑metering charges to the district if state law changed.

On equipment sourcing, Ido said panels for the project would be U.S.-assembled; an earlier plan had panels from Vietnam but he said Chinese-made panels would be difficult to use at present.

Motion and vote: the board moved to accept the superintendent—s recommendation to approve the 25-year PPA with BAI Group LLC. The motion was moved by board member Rodney and seconded by board member Jane. After discussion the board chair cast an aye and the motion passed 3-2. The superintendent's recommendation and the formal motion are reflected in the board record.

The project proponents said BAI Group will pursue Potomac Edison interconnection and virtual net‑metering procedures and provide the district with periodic production and savings reports. The PPA, as presented, assigns BAI the responsibilities for construction, maintenance and performance risk for the array and applies produced energy across district accounts via virtual aggregation.

The board noted there were two dissenting votes; no amendments to the PPA were recorded in the public session.