Mountain View Intermediate School is the new home of a solar power array provided by NC GreenPower and their Solar+Schools program.
Macon County Schools STEM coordinator Jennifer Love won the backing of NC GreenPower for one of 10 available slots in the program last year and received major financial support from PAHRF, Inc., the Macon County Board of Commissioners, the Franklin-Daybreak Rotary Club and many other concerned citizens. It took some time to start physical work on the panel because of complications with the pandemic, but it was finally up and operational as of last week.
“We got the racking and panels up yesterday, and we’re working on the wiring today,” project manager Nolan Bishal said on Thursday. “We’re going to test it out tomorrow with the school system and then we’ll just need Duke Energy to install the meter.”
The array is attached to a single post on the north end of the school’s campus and is visible from Wells Grove Road. It’s large enough and powerful enough to generate about five kilowatts-hours of power, which will be stored and put towards powering the school. While it isn’t enough to take the school off the grid, Love expects that the energy it generates will be enough to pay back Macon County Schools’ $6,000 investment in just a few years.
“Whatever this panel generates, we get credit for,” Love said. “We’ll be able to save about $1,000 on power per year, and these panels usually have a lifespan of about 40 years.”
Solar power can be both a sound financial investment and a benefit to the environment. Once a panel is installed, all it takes to generate power is a clear, sunny day, and according to lifestyle analysis group BestPlaces, Franklin enjoys an above average 212 sunny days per year. NC GreenPower says that interest in solar energy as a supplement to traditional fuel sources has been on the rise all over North Carolina in recent years.
“The current energy and environmental climate worldwide has helped consumers become far more educated on issues relating to renewable energy and greenhouse gas mitigation,” reads NC GreenPower’s website. “Consumers are also more motivated than ever before to actually do something about it.”
As for why MVI was chosen, renewable energy is important in STEM education now more than ever. MVI fifth and sixth graders conduct large units on different power sources and Love thinks that allowing them to study a solar array in-person will go a long way to enhance those lessons.
The students will be able to see with their own eyes the kind of difference that solar power can make.
“Instead of looking at a random table full of random data, they can pull data on their own solar panel,” Love said. “Hopefully, that will make it feel more real.”
For more information on solar solutions being implemented in North Carolina, call NC GreenPower at (919) 716-6398 or go online to www.ncgreenpower.org.