There’s a $200,000 project underway to install solar panels in Lawrence, and you might be surprised who is behind it — the operator of the large coal-fired power plant just outside of town.

Topeka-based Westar Energy is installing 160 solar panels on its maintenance facility and service center at 746 E. 27th St. in southeast Lawrence.

“We hope to learn a little bit more about solar,” said Don Ford, director of renewable business solutions for Westar. “Some of the information that is out there is from other locations, and we think it would be good for our customers to see what they will get in Kansas.”

Westar, the state’s largest electric utility, is installing the solar panels in a variety of locations and at a variety of angles to test their efficiency. The entire project will be hooked up to a website that will allow the public to log in and see how the solar panels are performing at any given time. Ford said that will provide valuable data on how solar panels perform on cloudy days and other such issues.

At their peak capacity, the solar panels Westar is installing would produce enough electricity to power about two homes. But, of course, solar panels don’t always produce at their peak capacity, such as at night and during times when the sun is behind the clouds. How much electricity the panels will produce on a consistent basis is among the information Westar hopes to gather.

“We have customers who are starting to install solar panels, and we are getting more questions about solar panels,” said Gina Penzig, a Westar spokeswoman. “We thought it was time for us to get some firsthand experience with solar panels.”

Ford said he doesn’t yet think the economics of solar panels make it likely that a lot of them will be installed in the state in the near term. But he said that make change.

“But if you would have asked me several years ago, I would have told you that we would have a lot less wind generation than we do now,” Ford said. “The economics have changed a lot with wind, and it probably will with solar as well.”

Westar now has five wind-generating plants to go along with its eight natural gas-fed power plants and its four coal-fired power plants, which includes the Lawrence Energy Center northwest of the city.

Lawrence is one of three cities Westar is using to test solar power. The utility also is installing panels on buildings they own in Manhattan and Shawnee, Ford said.

The company announced earlier this month that it would help fund the purchase and installation of solar panels at schools, nonprofit agencies and government buildings. Westar said it plans to provide funding for about 15 to 20 installations. The projects will be selected based, in part, on their ability to educate the public about solar energy.

The deadline for organizations or governments to apply is March 1. Westar is partnering with the EPA and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Application information can be found here.

In other news and notes from around town:

• I don’t know if they actually broke into the Rock Chalk chant, but a pair of Lawrence city commissioners recently won a statewide award for their support of the city’s new recreation center at the Rock Chalk Park sports complex. Mayor Mike Dever and City Commissioner Bob Schumm were awarded the Distinguished Elected Official Award from the Kansas Recreation and Park Association. They served as the lead commissioners on the project, which will involve the city spending $22.5 million to build a 181,000-square-foot recreation center and related infrastructure for the adjacent privately owned sports park that will be leased to Kansas University.

• If you haven’t driven by the construction site of the Lawrence Public Library expansion at Seventh and Vermont streets, you ought to. It is becoming easier to see what the new exterior will look like. The project is scheduled to be completed this summer, and that means it is time to start picking out the furnishings. City commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday will approve the first of several furniture contracts. In case you are wondering, it looks like it will cost about $570,000 for furniture. The amount was included as part of the library’s $18 million budget.