Bowling Green Independent School District’s newest elementary school will have a solar energy retention system.

During a special called meeting Tuesday, the district’s board of education approved a $30,000 grant agreement with the Kentucky Environmental Cabinet for solar equipment at the new Dishman-McGinnis Elementary School. 

The solar panel package will be smaller than the one at Richardsville Elementary School in the Warren County Public School District, the nation’s first “net zero” school, said Ricky Shive, district facilities manager. The new equipment costs $60,000.

The school board will consider construction bids for the project during its 6:30 p.m. meeting April 8. A ground-breaking ceremony is set for 1 p.m. April 22 at the site at Glen Lily Road and Durbin Drive.

When T.C. Cherry Elementary School was built, a solar system water heater was installed, said Superintendent Joe Tinius. For the new Dishman-McGinnis Elementary, a solar system water heater and a solar energy retention system will be included in the project. “We’ll get some pay back,” Tinius said.

The new Dishman-McGinnis Elementary is being constructed on the site of the old L.C. Curry Elementary School off Durbin Drive. The $11.5 million, 62,420-square-foot facility was designed by Ross Tarrant Architects Inc. Construction management firm Alliance Corp. of Glasgow is also working on the project. 

“The solar panel device will allow us to collect and store energy,” Shive said. “It’s the same technology as Richardsville, it’s just not as big an array.”

T.C. Cherry is the district’s most energy-efficient school and the new Dishman-McGinnis has the potential to bypass that standard, Shive said. Dishman-McGinnis is targeted to be a federal Energy Star school, using special classroom lighting and solar tubes that will provide natural lighting in those rooms, the city schools facilities director said. “It was a 50-50 split on the grant,” Tinius said.

While T.C. Cherry is a single-floor school, Dishman-McGinnis will be a two-floor structure, with classrooms on both the first and the second floors.

“It looks like we are going to be in good shape to move forward,” Tinus said. “We received a large number of bids for the project and we are reviewing those bids.”