A 1.8-megawatt (MW) faculty rooftop photo voltaic array, the most important in Virginia, is now on-line – and the US must do an entire lot extra of this.
Faculty rooftop photo voltaic in Virginia
Stafford County Public Faculties partnered with New York-based Madison Vitality Infrastructure (MEI) to put in the rooftop photo voltaic array at North Stafford Excessive Faculty. It’s made up of three,300 photo voltaic panels, and it’s going to save lots of the varsity system an estimated $2.8 million in electrical payments over the subsequent 25 years. The rooftop will even generate 54 million kilowatt hours of fresh vitality and offset 41,583 tons of CO2.
Set up of this challenge in Stafford County, 40 miles south of Washington, D.C., started in February of this yr, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony was yesterday.
College students will study photo voltaic utilizing MEI’s Photo voltaic Empowered Faculties curriculum, which integrates real-time knowledge from the photo voltaic panels into vitality and science classes. College students have already began utilizing MEI’s solar-empowered faculty modules and VR instructional excursions of the rooftop.
“This rooftop photo voltaic array represents a big milestone for our college division,” mentioned Maureen Siegmund, Stafford faculty board chair. “We’re proud to be part of this vitality and value financial savings challenge whereas additionally offering our college students with real-world instructional alternatives to interact on this discipline at North Stafford Excessive Faculty.”
In keeping with a Generation180 examine about solar energy on US Okay-12 faculties launched final month, Virginia ranks No 9 amongst states for cumulative capability of rooftop photo voltaic on faculties. It has 180 arrays with a complete photo voltaic capability of 55,423 kW. The examine discovered that 1 in 9 US college students now attend a solar-powered faculty and that greater than 800 Okay-12 faculties added new photo voltaic arrays in 2022-2023.
Electrek’s Take
Like warehouses and field shops, photo voltaic on sprawling, flat faculty roofs is an absolute no-brainer. It saves a ton of cash for faculties, that are all the time on tight budgets and reduces emissions total.
The Generation180 examine says that 80% of cumulative photo voltaic capability put in at Okay-12 faculties is primarily funded by third-party possession fashions comparable to energy buy agreements and leases (the opposite 20% is direct possession).
The examine states, “Efficient third-party possession agreements take away the barrier of upfront capital prices, stabilize long-term electrical energy costs, and generate speedy vitality invoice saving.”
There is no such thing as a cause that faculty rooftop photo voltaic shouldn’t be rolled out as shortly as potential in all states, as a result of everybody wins.
Learn extra: Rooftop photo voltaic is put in on West Virginia public faculties – why that’s an enormous deal
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