-information courtesy of Vance County Schools Chief Communication Officer Aarika Sandlin
STEM Early High School in Vance County is one of nine schools across the state to receive a grant from NC GreenPower to install a rooftop solar array as part of a solar education package.
With backing from the State Employees Credit Union, the Solar+ Schools Award will pay for all of the project’s construction costs, expected to be between $55,000 and $75,000.
The educational package includes a 20-kilowatt solar array, STEM curriculum, teacher training and more.
Schools should raise $3,500 to cover any future operations and maintenance expenses. The included weather station and data monitoring equipment will incorporate live information from the arrays into classrooms, and teachers will be able to compare weather scenarios and involve students in reading and interpreting the energy data.
Northern Granville Middle School in Granville County also is a recipient of the Solar+ School Award.
In 2024, the Solar+ Schools program accepted applications from public K-12 schools in Tier 1 and 2 counties in North Carolina. For the awarded schools, the installed 20-kW photovoltaic systems will serve as educational tools and will provide an energy impact depending on each school’s arrangement with its local electric utility. Since Solar+ Schools’ introduction in 2015, program recipients have saved about $100,000 cumulatively in electricity expenses, and the STEM and solar curriculum training has benefited more than 280 teachers and 62,000 students throughout the state.
The member-funded State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) Foundation has been a long-time advocate of NC GreenPower and continues to generously back the Solar+ Schools program. In 2022, the SECU Foundation contributed a grant of up to $600,000 extending through 2024 to provide additional funding and assist with installation costs for awarded schools.
“NC GreenPower’s Solar+ Schools initiative is a unique and innovative project that continues to produce energy savings and educational benefits for our schools and our state,” said SECU Foundation Executive Director Jama Campbell. “We couldn’t be more pleased to help outfit nine schools with a working solar array system for students and our communities to learn more about solar power’s impact as an alternative energy source for today and years to come.”