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Up on the roof at Community Charter School are a few dozen solar panels, helping to power the Gaston County school.
Channel 9’s Michelle Alfini looked into how schools are taking advantage of their flat rooftops that get a lot of sunlight, and the energy savings could go straight to the classroom.
NC GreenPower has been doing installations like this across the state, not only to help schools lower their power bills but also to offer some educational opportunities.
“Do you know what solar is?” STEM essentials teacher Lindsey Kowaleski asked her students. “The sun shines on these panels, and they soak up the energy.”
Kowaleski has a new tool for the classroom.
“They can see how our solar panels are charging on sunny days, overcast days. We’re able to look at seasonal efficiency,” Kowaleski said.
The school installed the 20-kilowatt system in late summer thanks to a grant from NC GreenPower.
Project manager Davis Reed says the nonprofit has helped fund 100 installations in 50 counties over 12 years through the Solar+ Schools program.
“We want to spread across the state as much as possible, benefit as many communities and schools as possible,” Reed said.
Each system is about $50,000 and entirely grant-funded, while the schools reap the savings through their power bills.
“Ten to 15% energy savings is pretty typical from one of these schools. So that can be, you know, several thousand dollars per year of savings that can be implemented in other areas of need for the school,” Reed said.
“We felt that doing this would save us money but also be a tool to teach the kids,” Community Charter School Executive Director Jim Montague said.
Executive director of Community Charter School Jim Montague says that the educational component convinced his school to apply.
He says he’s looking forward to seeing how teachers can incorporate the rooftop solar into their lesson plans, not only to show where energy comes from, but the value of keeping power clean.
“How many Earths do we get? We only get one Earth. So we have to be good to it, right?” Kowaleski asked.
NC GreenPower pays for these solar installations at about six to 12 schools every year. They focus on schools in the state’s most economically distressed counties.
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Michelle is a climate reporter for Channel 9.
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