The 1,800 solar photovoltaic panels, spread across the roofs of the high school, middle school, police station and fire station, represent a distributed solar array which will reportedly provide about 15 percent of the electricity needed for the schools.

It’s a big change for a small town, population 13,346, but the system – installed by Borrego Solar of Lowell, which also has offices in El Cajon and Berkeley, California – is expected to save the small school district a whopping $25,000 in electricity costs per year.

The distributed array is also a first for Hopkinton, the first town in the state to install panels on multiple municipal locations. And it might not have happened at all, when 2008 tax credits for renewable energy were cut statewide as a result of the economic meltdown.

However, Hopkinton found a workaround, and it represents a solar solution being employed more and more often as solar tax credits and rebates suffer from overuse and a failing economy. The city opted for third-party ownership, where Boston Community Capital (a nonprofit vested in community development) finances, and owns, the array, and sells the power back to Hopkinton at a lower rate than currently available from the local utility, the difference presumably made up for in renewable energy credits, or RECs. Borrego Solar captures the tax credits (under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act).

At the end of the 20-year power purchase agreement, Hopkinton can either take ownership of the panels or Boston Community Capital will remove them, at its own expense, and restore roofs to their original condition.

Data on electricity production, available as weekly, monthly or yearly output, is provided via an interactive kiosk in the lobby of the high school. The data can be viewed building by building, or as a whole, and also shows electricity production in other formats; that is, how many days the system could power a home, or how many hours a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) could remain lit.

Boston Community Capital is becoming one of the state’s largest solar panel owners, and this newest acquisition is, according to CEO Elyse Cherry, an excellent way to send a message to today’s students (and tomorrow’s energy leaders) about the importance of solar energy in the new U.S. energy paradigm.

Hopkinton is also leading the pack, at least in Massachusetts, by offering a new rebate program for its residents which provides $500 per solar photovoltaic system if the installation is undertaken by Vermont-based GroSolar, a premier provider of solar energy solutions with offices in 11 states.