BELLEFONTE - Plans to install a new biomass boiler system in the Penns Valley Area School District continue to take shape, with the goal of saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in heating costs annually.

Rob Pacella, the district's director of fiscal planning, updated the Centre County commissioners on the project at their meeting Tuesday, saying he hopes to have the system operational in about a year.

The system is expected to cost $1.5 million, with bids due on Nov. 16. The cost will be offset by an $800,000 state grant. Pacella hopes the biomass system will save the district about $200,000 a year.

The district is looking at primarily burning wood chips for fuel, he said.

"That would be the most cost-effective fuel for the system right now," Pacella said. "It will produce hot water that would be pumped underground to both the high school, the (Penns Valley) Elementary School and the maintenance facility. It's going to supplement the use of oil.

"We're hoping to only use oil during the spring and fall when there's not a big load on the buildings for heat," Pacella said. "It wouldn't make sense to use the biomass at that time because you're going to have to use the heat whenever it is burning."

The grant funding requires that the system be operational by February of 2011, but the district is hopeful it will be up and running by October of next year.

"Obviously, the sooner we get it running, the sooner we can start saving money," Pacella said. "With the anticipation of the state budget and how tight it will be, we want to have it up and running by next school year to help us save some money."

The commissioners urged Pacella to stay in touch with the county's Planning Department.

"That's one part of the process that helps things go as quickly and smoothly as possible," Commissioner Chairman Jon Eich said.

In other news at the meeting on election day, the commissioners presented Jerry Halderman with a certificate acknowledging his participation in his 100th election, or two times a year for 50 years.

"He's worked all the way from paper ballots to the punch cards to our new optical scan system," said Joyce McKinley, director of Elections and Voter Registration.

"I don't even think words can explain how much you've seen," Commissioner Steve Dershem said to Halderman.

Halderman started working at the elections in 1959 while an employee in the county's maintenance department and has been helping in each election since, even after retiring in 2002.

McKinley reported there were only some very minor glitches in the first few hours of voting on Tuesday, the most notable of which was the needed replacement of an election machine card because a battery went dead.

"Overall, it's going very smoothly," she said.