Thumbnail photo: SitelogIQ says a solar array near Bess Maxwell Elementary School could offset energy costs for six Del Norte Unified School District facilities. | Image courtesy of SitelogIQ

Local education officials expressed misgivings about a SitelogIQ proposal to install a solar array near Bess Maxwell Elementary School.

They didn’t shoot the proposal down. But they raised concerns about the $5 million price tag, especially after Del Norte County Unified School District Superintendent Jeff Harris said without a $1 million federal rebate, “it makes zero sense to move forward.”

After SitelogIQ representatives outlined their proposal at a Jan. 22 study session, the Board of Trustees had asked Harris to return with potential financing options. On Thursday, the superintendent said the firm had options for the school district that they wanted to discuss, but he wasn’t sure what they were yet. 

If the Board of Trustees wanted to continue those discussions, they would have to do so expeditiously, Harris said.

“I know they were concerned that if we waited too long the $1 million wouldn’t be on the table,” he said. “It was very clear that if that $1 million is not on the table, we should not do it.”

In March 2025, SitelogIQ and DNUSD entered into an agreement for the company to perform energy audits at each school site to analyze the district’s energy-savings and energy-generation potential. The firm’s representatives would return to the Board of Trustees with a proposed electricity-generating project.

At the Jan. 22 study session, trustees learned that the proposed solar array would offset energy usage at Bess Maxwell, Castle Rock Charter School, Del Norte High School, the district office, Community School, Two Trees Healthy Start Center and the Instructional Materials Center.

On Thursday, Harris said there were bigger pieces that could come into play later on that include combining solar power generation with battery backups.

“You would have (an) emergency response around our schools with the high school as the hub and this area, the district office, for communications,” he said. “You would have Washington (Boulevard) for gas, for medical care, for groceries, and then you would have Northcrest for internet and power.”

According to SitelogIQ’s Jan. 22 presentation, the annual utility costs for all 13 campuses and the Del Norte County Office of Education is more than $780,000. DNUSD uses roughly 3.1 million kilowatt hours per year, according to the firm’s presentation, with Del Norte High consuming the most energy.

The campuses that would be powered by the proposed solar array near Bess Maxwell have an annual utility cost of about $349,817, according to SitelogIQ’s presentation.

On Thursday, Board President Charlaine Mazzei said she didn’t oppose paying for a solar array if it meant that DNUSD would break even on its electricity costs. But she was concerned that SitelogIQ didn’t have other potential funding options besides the district finding financing and also paying interest.

“A lot of grants … even though they may pay for a project, they won’t pay you to pay off a loan on a project you’ve already gotten into,” she said. “I feel like they haven’t even said, ‘We’ve looked at this, this, this and this,’ to see that we might be able to get money we don’t have to pay back. I think we need more options on that.”

According to Harris, however, there are state mandates for school districts to have solar panels to offset their energy uses to receive modernization dollars. That mandate could come into play during the construction of the Partnership for the Performing Arts proposed 1,000-seat venue and other major modernization projects DNUSD may wish to do, he said.

Harris urged the Board of Trustees to give him time to gather more information before bringing the proposal back for further discussion at a future meeting.

Mazzei and her colleagues weren’t the only ones to raise concerns about SitelogIQ’s proposal. Del Norte Teachers Association President Amber Tiedeken-Cron said she received at least 10 emails from her colleagues. According to her, the price tag was “really freaking some people out.”

SitelogIQ’s agreement with Del Norte Unified in March 2025 came about two months after it had submitted a letter of agreement to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors. At a Jan. 29, 2025 meeting, representatives Kristy Coughlin and Taylor Boyle laid out two proposed microgrid projects in the Crescent City area that would use a combination of solar power generation, a generator and battery backup to supply electricity to DNUSD offices, Crescent Fire Protection District, Del Norte High and Sutter Coast Hospital.

On Monday, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, who brought the concept of micro grids to his colleagues’ attention in late 2024, said the county is continuing to work with both SitelogIQ and Pacific Power. 

Coming after the Smith River Complex wildfires and the countywide multi-day power outages that resulted, Howard said the talks not only surround the potential of micro grids, but also energy redundancy.