Cohoes Middle School will soon get a new solar power installation through federal stimulus money from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Our Sabina Kuriakose has more on how officials say, local taxpayers can look forward to saving tens of thousands of dollars annually.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

That translates into cost-cutting to the tune of $10,000 a year for Cohoes Middle School, with the installation of a new solar panel system on the school's roof.

"It fits into our dual goal when it comes to trying to save energy costs and find ways to show students where the science is taking us," said Cohoes City School District Superintendent Robert Libby.

The school district received more than $300,000 in federal stimulus money from NYSERDA to fund the project. It's part of a statewide program to fund solar power projects for public buildings.

The solar panel system at Cohoes Middle School will produce about 45 kilowatts of power. That's enough to power about ten homes for a year.

It's federal stimulus dollars at work, creating jobs, while in the long run saving taxpayer money.

"That's where my company comes in. It enables me to hire more people to do more work," said Stangl.

Not to mention, the installation team includes graduates from Hudson Valley Community College.

"It's always great when you have people coming in excited, having a passion about wanting to learn something and having the opportunity to train them, watch them go out and get a good job for a local company," said Joseph Sarubbi, the executive director of HVCC's TEC-SMART initiative.

Installation will begin sometime this spring. Alteris hopes to finish by April 22 which is Earth Day.