A 1.8-megawatt (MW) college rooftop photo voltaic array, the most important in Virginia, is now on-line – and the US must do a complete 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 avoid wasting the varsity system an estimated $2.8 million in electrical payments over the following 25 years. The rooftop can 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 12 months, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony was yesterday.
College students will find out about photo voltaic utilizing MEI’s Photo voltaic Empowered Faculties curriculum, which integrates real-time information from the photo voltaic panels into vitality and science classes. College students have already began utilizing MEI’s solar-empowered college modules and VR instructional excursions of the rooftop.
“This rooftop photo voltaic array represents a major milestone for our college division,” mentioned Maureen Siegmund, Stafford college board chair. “We’re proud to be part of this vitality and price financial savings challenge whereas additionally offering our college students with real-world instructional alternatives to have interaction on this discipline at North Stafford Excessive Faculty.”
In accordance with a Generation180 examine about solar energy on US Okay-12 colleges launched final month, Virginia ranks No 9 amongst states for cumulative capability of rooftop photo voltaic on colleges. 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 college and that greater than 800 Okay-12 colleges added new photo voltaic arrays in 2022-2023.
Electrek’s Take
Like warehouses and field shops, photo voltaic on sprawling, flat college roofs is an absolute no-brainer. It saves a ton of cash for colleges, that are at all times on tight budgets and reduces emissions general.
The Generation180 examine says that 80% of cumulative photo voltaic capability put in at Okay-12 colleges is primarily funded by third-party possession fashions similar 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 fast vitality invoice saving.”
There is no such thing as a purpose that faculty rooftop photo voltaic shouldn’t be rolled out as shortly as attainable in all states, as a result of everybody wins.
Learn extra: Rooftop photo voltaic is put in on West Virginia public colleges – why that’s a giant deal
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