Clean Energy Ready for Takeoff:
Logistics and Financing Didn’t Ground This Project
Excel Academy | East Boston
About the Customer
Excel Academy is a charter school located in East Boston. Its mission is to prepare students to succeed in high school and college, apply their learning to solve relevant problems, and engage productively in their communities.
Excel was founded in Massachusetts in 2003 to provide a high-quality education to students in East Boston and Chelsea, communities that are predominantly low-income and Latinx and historically have faced significant social and educational barriers. Excel has grown from one middle school to a network of five charter schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with 1,400 students and 240 staff members serving grades 5 to 12.
Learn more about Excel Academy
Customer Situation
Excel Academy wanted to equip its East Boston rooftop with solar energy to reduce its environmental footprint, better manage its energy costs, and also to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability to its students and community.
Excel Academy’s primary concerns in successfully implementing a solar project were:
Cost
Structural concerns with the building
Working with the logistics of a busy school schedule
Excel Academy solicited and received bids from multiple providers, ultimately choosing Resonant Energy to design and build the school’s projects.
Resonant Solution
The phase 1 systems, both installed as a Direct Purchase, are 38.22 kW (78 PV modules) and 70.56 kW (144 PV modules), respectively. These systems were completed and operational in October, 2024, prior to the start of phase 2. Together, they are expected to produce over 120,000 kWh per year. At the ribbon-cutting event for phase 1, students from Excel’s Science Club presented on the importance of solar energy.
Prior to the start of the 64.85kW phase 2, the project was at risk because of a lack of funding. With support from Resonant, Excel Academy applied for and received a MassCEC Green School Works Grant, one of 18 school projects that together received more than $52 million to upgrade their buildings and reduce their operating costs. This grant enabled Excel to undertake an additional Direct Purchase, saving the project from being abandoned. Phase 2 has been installed and is expected to be operational in summer 2026.
Throughout both phases of the project, Resonant Energy’s Project Management team worked diligently to meet the extra logistical challenges of installing solar at a busy school. Installations were scheduled so that equipment could be lifted onto the roof via a crane during school vacation week to avoid impacting traffic and students.
Unique Challenge: Proximity to the Airport
In addition, at the outset of the project, Resonant Energy’s Project Management team also identified and overcame a challenge posed by the location of Excel Academy’s East Boston location: The school is located directly at the end of one of the main runways of Logan Airport, which handles more than 1,000 flights in and out per day. Resonant Energy’s Project Management team coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Massport to complete a glare study and get clearance to use a crane in controlled airspace, successfully managing the extra logistical challenges posed by the unique location of the school.
Results
Excel Academy is already seeing savings from the completed phase 1. Together, the three solar arrays will cover 33% of the school’s electricity usage, reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 19 cars off the road. Excel can expect to save more than $600,000 in electricity costs over the lifetime of the 3 systems. Each of these projects also received a 30-40% federal tax credit.
Resonant Energy worked to address the unique logistical and financial challenges that Excel faced throughout the project
“The Resonant team turned a complicated site and a near-fatal funding gap into a project that's now powering a third of our school. They're the rare partner who treats your constraints as their problem to solve.”
Chris Reed
Director of Capital Planning & Facilities