UW-Eau Claire will be a little less fossil-fueled next spring after Student Senate voted Monday to install solar panels on the roof of McIntyre Library.

Senate approved a plan to install $160,000 in photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of the library
unopposed.

The panels catch sunlight from the south side of the library and pump clean electricity back into Eau Claire’s power grid. The library panels will mirror a set of sun suckers already installed on the roof of the Davies Center.

But it will take about 69 years before the panels generate enough power to equal their up-front price tag, Student Office of Sustainability director Emy Marier said.

That’s assuming the cost of energy continues to rise. If it doesn’t, the panels will take about 78 years to pay off, Mike Traynor, director of Eau Claire Facilities Management said in a presentation to Senate Monday.

But the panels probably won’t last half that long anyway.

Marier said the panels — not including wiring, housing and other infrastructure — will fizzle out in about 33 years, but are under a 25-year warranty.

Senator Christian Paese said while he supported the program, the cost is concerning.

“It’s hard to swallow spending this kind of money on something that has an average lifespan of 33 years and the payback period is 69 to 79 years,” senator Paese said. “I think it’s cool that we’re making a statement, but it’s a $160,000 statement.”

The money to fund the project comes out of the SOS budget. SOS gets $200,000 in student fees to run projects on campus each year, which is the largest green fund allocation in the UW System.

Senator Zach Ahola said although solar panels are expensive, investing in renewable energy sets Eau Claire apart from other UW schools.

“I think it’s cool that we’re … spending money on something that has pay back at all,” Ahola said. “This project meets all the criteria in the goals laid out for SOS.”

Senate will pass its approval to engineers at the Wisconsin State Department of Administration’s Division of Facilities Development who will work out the specifics of the project, Traynor said.

Once DFD drafts the plan, the university will put the project up for bid to contractors. DFD takes a $30,000 cut from the project in administration fees and engineering costs, which means contractors will have about $130,000 in materials and labor costs to complete the project.

The $160,000 in student money is basically the project’s budget, Marier said. And any leftover cash will be cycled back into the SOS budget, after Senate passed an amendment to the bill during Monday’s meeting.

Traynor said the project will go up for bid sometime this winter and construction should begin before next spring.