The U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is sponsoring the "Solar on Schools" program that has been adopted by Jeffco Public Schools, the largest district in Colorado.

Rooftop solar arrays are installed at 30 of the district's schools. Golden Power Partners collaborated with Renewable Social Benefit Funds (RSB Funds) for financing, using combined federal and state incentives as well as Xcel Energy renewable energy rebates, and Tecta America for construction.

Jeffco Public Schools paid no upfront costs, and the "Solar on Schools" project is expected to save Jefferson County taxpayers USD 2.88 million in energy costs over the next 20 years. RSB Funds will own and maintain the solar panels, and it will sell the electricity the panels produce to the district at a price below its current utility rate.

"We worked with Golden Power Partners to incorporate a user-friendly data acquisition system that the teachers and students could use in the classroom to get live data about their solar systems," stated Linda Lung, manager of education programs at NREL.

Golden Power Partners and NREL chose DECK Monitoring to set up a system that allows the students to see how their solar panels are working at the very moment, that day, that week, that month, or that year. And the students can compare how fast their school is turning photons into electrons compared to a school 30 miles away.

Renewable energy lessons incorporating real-time data into science and math classes

NREL used the USD 30,000 awarded to the winning proposal to organize spring and summer Energy Institute for Teachers workshops attended by the most interested math and science teacher from each of the 30 solar-powered schools - which include elementary, middle, and high schools.

"NREL worked with Jeffco staff to integrate standards-based renewable energy lessons with the data monitoring system so teachers could incorporate the real-time data into science and math classes. The PV system becomes a learning laboratory and an exciting learning tool — plus the school benefits from all the clean, renewable electricity it produces," Lung added.

2012-10-19 | Courtesy: U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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