If the money falls into place, a few months from now Hillsdale will boast the first public school in the Northwest to install and use solar energy panels for the majority of its power. The project to install a 500 solar panels on a hill next to Reike Elementary got a lot of support at a neighborhood meeting in Hillsdale last night. The idea is to have a company build and manage a huge row of solar panels built on a hill next to the school. The school could buy an average of 60 percent of its power annually from the solar operators and students could get an awesome hands-on education in alternative energy.
A crucial reason why this project is so popular is because it was pitched by the neighbors itself, rather than formulated and imposed top-down from the City. PPS Energy Specialist Catherine Diviney said she had always thought big solar projects wouldn’t work for Portland Schools since the schools’ roofs are too old and decaying to support heavy solar panels. It was the neighbors who thought of putting the panels on the ground rather than roofs and got the project rolling.
Rather than getting mired in NIMBYism, Hillsdale’s residents (at least the vocal ones) are big on attracting development to the SW. “For a long time, we’ve encouraged developments that we thought were important to the neighborhood,” said Hillsdale Neighborhood Association president Don Baack. They’re hoping to solar project will stabilize enrollment at Reike and boost the popularity and visibility of the whole neighborhood. In the words of West District Planner Brian Sheehan, “It’s ultimately a pretty creative solution to helping build and brand a town center and begin to address climate change.” While neighbors are concerned somewhat about the aesthetics of the project, the biggest debate is over what shape the panels should make: flower? target? straight line?
But now the tough stuff: To actually build the panels, the neighbors and school need to find some corporation to invest in the project. Diviney estimated the construction cost at $800,000 and there’s big fat local, state and federal tax credits that cover most of the cost of the project. BUT the federal credits end in 2009. That means a planning and construction process that usually takes 8-12 months would have to get done between now and New Year’s.
Can it be done? According to Solar Commercial Ventures developer Sandra Walden, “It’s definitely a challenge.”
Here’s what the hill next to Reike Elementary looks like now – that building at the end is The Watershed, a just built affordable housing complex:
And the site with the proposed solar panels:
Public schools around the country are going through the same scramble for investors as Reike. A school in MA just rejected a similar proposal, deciding that the “intangible benefits” aren’t worth the potential that the energy bought from the solar panels will be more expensive than for the first five years of their use (though it’s somewhat alarming that a school district considers “reducing fossil fuel consumption” and “children learning” to be intangible). On the other side of the country, 31 California schools have installed solar panels, including huge ones that provide 75% of the power to the entire San Jose district. Who’s the investor for that project? Chevron.
Sweet!
And with the 8 days of sunlight we get every year, that school will have enough power to keep it going for the entire underfunded Oregon school year. Works out perfectly.
It’s heartening to see a community organize around this type of initiative.
ha! I asked the same question, Justin. The school would get 60 percent of their ANNUAL power from the solar panels, which means the school will use a lot during the summer and sunshine times and less during the soggy foggy fall/winter/spring.
I love this concept, but have to wonder still about the feasibility.
Like you mentioned, they’ll generate the most power during the summer when school isn’t in session and the power needs are so low you could satisfy them by throwing the naughty kids in summer school on treadmills. Wouldn’t seem to do much good without changing the traditional school year schedule to keep classes running during the sunny months.
Are they going to squirrel away the excess energy (batteries, etc?) to use once classes start? Or maybe sell it back to the local power company? Maybe arrange some sort of swap (we give you the excess power we generate over the summer months and you give us the same amount of kilowatts in the dark season)?
Since the solar panels would be owned and operated by a corporation, it’s up to that company to decide what to do with the excess sunny-time power. The school is just going to be buying energy off the solar grid rather than the normal electrical grid. During the sunny months, they’ll be able to buy a lot of solar, during the winter, not so much.
While the schedule maximizing summer fun in the sun is great for kids, it’s unfortunate for solar schools, huh? You can see why this got started in California, where there are no seasons besides summer.
Duh, Oregon gets plenty of sun, even with clouds… here’s something from last week’s press release from Multco County Commish Jeff Cogen about the new panels that the County is considering installing on three county buildings…
“Despite its reputation as a rainy, cloudy place and therefore not conducive to solar energy projects, Oregon gets as much sun as the national average—and more than Germany, which leads the world in its use of solar energy.”
http://www.commissionercogen.com/2008/06/press_release_o.html
Everyone seems to be concerned about what the school will do when it’s not sunny. You need to read up on how grid-intertie systems work. Everyone builds solar systems this way now unless you live off grid in the middle of no where. The panels connect to an AC inverter which connects directly into the buildings power. If there’s too much power it goes back into the grid and the meter runs backwards. If there’s too little you pull from the grid. Most people consume energy in their homes at night and early morning when the sun is low / gone. They can generate all day long when they’re at work and that power feeds into the grid powerful businesses in their local area, and then when they get home they can use up power from some fossil plant. You don’t directly use your solar electricity most of the time, but you offset the need for additional fossil power plants.