Howard County Quorum Court receives report on solar energy savings

It has been just over one year since Howard County completed its solar panel and energy savings project. Skip Woessner, a representative of McKinstry Industries, the firm that helped oversee the project, gave a report on the first year at Monday’s Howard County Quorum Court meeting. Woessner said his company projected the county to save $51,285 dollars in the first year. His report included actual savings of just over $53,000 dollars. The largest savings came from lighting upgrades that included a conversion from fluorescent bulbs to L.E.D. bulbs.
The most notable upgrade seen by the public is the solar panel array, located on the former Howard Memorial Hospital grounds. Woessner said his company guaranteed a first year savings of $28,763 dollars. However, in the previous 12 month period, he said the panel was short of those expectations by about $500 dollars. He attributed the lack of profitability to the weather and because one of the panels wasn’t functioning properly for the first couple of months.