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It might have been cloudy, but Unionville High School celebrated its new solar array on Friday with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. The array — installed by TerraSol Energies — covers roughly 70 percent of the school’s roof surface with almost 900 panels.
According to Director of Facilities James Whitesel, since the system went online on Sept. 9, it has already generated 58 megawatts of power.
“That’s 58,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity generated right here on our roof. That’s enough electricity to fully power any one of our elementary schools this past month. And at today’s electricity rates, that’s also enough power to offset approximately $75,000 in electricity costs,” he said.
“I’m very confident the sun is going to continue coming up every morning and now, thanks to this project, the sunshine is working for Unionville-Chadds Ford School District,” Whitesel added.
Funding for the project came from a $300,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Solar for Schools Grant.
Tim Hoffman, the superintendent of schools, said the project took a lot of work and there were many people to thank, including project partners and the state politicians who helped make it come together by voting for the grant program.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the solar grants,” Hoffman said.
He added that the project coincided with one of the district’s four core values, that of principled stewardship.
“That means we make the most of the resources that we have, whether that’s financial resources or natural resources; we do what we can do to the best of our ability with what we have. This solar array will help offset rising liquid fuel costs and electricity costs that have had a detrimental impact on school budgets.”
Also on hand for the ceremony were state Sen. Carolyn Comitta, D-19, and state Reps Christina Sappey, D-158, and Craig Williams, R-160.
Comitta said, “Energy and the environment are at the intersection of some of the biggest issues and challenges that we face…Pennsylvania is one of about half the states in the nation where electricity rates have risen faster than inflation. Meanwhile, we continue to lag behind in the deployment of renewables.”
She continued by saying the state ranks 47^th in growth when it comes to solar, wind, and geothermal generation, but said forward-thinking schools and districts, such as Unionville-Chadds Ford, are leading the way in overcoming such a deficit.
Sappey likewise said the project is a “massive win for students and facilities. Utility bills are consistently one of the largest operating expenses for our public schools. When the House of Representatives created the Solar for Schools Grant in 2024, our goal was to protect local taxpayers by lowering operating costs for districts. By completing this project, Unionville-Chadds Ford demonstrates how state grants reduce overhead and keep district funds focused on where they matter most, on students.”
The final speaker was Craig Williams, who said, “This really is a big moment. There was a little bit of bad news conveyed today about our current development of energy in Pennsylvania, and it’s absolutely true. But there’s also some good news in the message we bring you today,” he added. “We are still the number one electricity exporter state in the entire country, but we’re not building it fast enough.”
Williams went on to say, “The entry of data centers onto our energy grid means that we are now competing with them, for the moment, for the available power. Until we get that fixed legislatively, that is the pricing reality. So, school districts, like Unionville-Chadds Ford, face a daunting financial position which is they can either add power for their own facilities or lean less on the grid where those power prices are out of control. We need to fix this in Harrisburg and Washington, and I think we will, but in the meantime, one thing you can do is add power for your own facilities, take care of your own needs, and lean less on the power grid.”
Williams was the last of the speakers before the ceremonial ribbon cutting.
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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