Putting solar on schools offers unique benefits to local governments and school districts. North Carolina is one state with great untapped potential, held back by lack of affordable financing, local permitting and land use policies, according to Solar schools for North Carolina: Repowering education with clean energy by Environment from North Carolina Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group.
Schools offer several benefits as solar hosts. Because schools are not in use around the clock or even throughout the full year, unused energy during those unused times can be sent back to the grid. Furthermore, when paired with batteries, schools can produce and retain power during extreme weather events, serving as what the report says are important centers for the community.
Although purchasing solar panels is a considerable investment, the report says the investment is akin to buying 25 years of electricity at once, which protects school budgets from unexpected increases in energy costs. With U.S. schools spending around $8 billion annually on energy costs, according to the report, the savings can instead be spent on teachers’ salaries, classroom supplies or building repairs. Furthermore, solar on schools can cut carbon pollution, thus improving the health of residents in the region.
A common, affordable way for schools to go solar is through power purchase agreements (PPAs) and leases; however, North Carolina is one of only six states to disallow third-party PPAs, according to the report. In light of the sunsetting of the federal investment tax credit (ITC), PPAs are an important funding mechanism for solar.
[Read Sunset of ITC means solar PPAs will do more heavy lifting]
While financing is a challenge, the potential is great, as the report finds that public school buildings in North Carolina (pre-K through 12th grade) have more than 1,300 football fields worth of rooftop space that could be suitable for solar
By using federal data on the footprints of educational buildings across North Carolina, along with solar modeling software produced by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL), the report finds that rooftops of North Carolina public schools could:
Putting solar on the rooftops of roughly 2,400 (about 90%) of North Carolina’s public schools could produce, the report estimates, the equivalent of nearly 1.2% of the amount of power North Carolina currently uses each year or enough electricity to power almost 150,000 typical homes each year. By taking this step, the state would reduce carbon dioxide pollution the equivalent of taking almost 280,000 cars off the road for a year.
Geographically, Wake County has the greatest solar potential, which the report estimates at 75 MW at 204 public and charter schools. Mecklenburg County is second, with an estimated 71 MW of school rooftop solar potential.
To tap the potential of solar on schools in North Carolina, the report advises that “state officials should provide funding and policy support to incentivize local renewable energy and reduce roadblocks,” noting that these steps are even more critical with the sunsetting of federal incentives coupled with the growing electricity demand.
The report puts forth recommended policy changes on both the federal and state level, advising that federal officials should maintain and restore support for solar energy and particularly school solar projects. It notes the Renew America’s Schools program, which the report estimates has spent $372.5 million of an originally authorized $500 million in funding.
Some of the state policy recommendations include:
While the report focuses on North Carolina and its potential for and challenges in putting solar on schools, the recommendations are applicable to local governments and school districts throughout the country. The overall finding is that to encourage solar installations on school roofs, parking lots and property, school systems need affordable financing and local permitting and land-use policies that are not prohibitive of school systems generating their full potential in clean energy.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected].
Comments
Please login to comment
Monday, October 26, 2026
10:30 am – 11:30 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, September 10, 2026
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
A two-day conference in Austin, Texas, bringing together leaders in US solar manufacturing, equipment specification, and factory execution.
Thursday, October 7, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
You have no items in your basket.
