Posted by: ncgp on September 20, 2019
Since April 2015, our Solar Schools program has been able to bring solar and energy education to more than 23,000 K-12 students across 27 North Carolina schools and 22 counties, and we recently announced the five newest awardees:
- The Center of Applied Sciences and Technology (COAST), Bolivia – Brunswick County
- Charles P. Murray Middle School, Wilmington – New Hanover County
- Hurley Elementary School, Salisbury – Rowan County
- Peachland-Polkton Elementary School, Peachland – Anson County
- Sunny View Elementary School, Mill Spring – Polk County
NC GreenPower Solar Schools uses a portion of the donations we receive to provide matching grants for small photovoltaic (PV) systems (3-5 kilowatts) at schools. In addition to the solar array, the schools receive a weather station, real-time monitoring equipment, a STEM curriculum and lesson plans. It’s a full educational package that gives instructors valuable, hands-on tools to teach their students about renewable energy.
Here’s how it works:
- At the beginning of the year, these schools applied to the program on our website.
- All North Carolina K-12 schools are eligible and encouraged to apply, but preference may be given to those in economically distressed counties.
- The schools were chosen to receive a 50% matching grant up to $10,000 and are tasked with raising the remainder of the funds.
- We are also fortunate to partner with the State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) Foundation, offering this year’s schools an additional $15,000 grant that allows for a 5 kilowatt system.
- The schools are currently using our fundraising website to raise money for their portion of the solar installation. We are supplementing these efforts with marketing and social media promotion.
- After the money is raised, we will coordinate with local solar installers and manage the installation of the PV systems.
- We will also provide educational materials to the schools from the National Energy Education Development Project as well as training for teachers.
- Once each solar array is installed, we will host a celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony at that school for teachers, staff and students!
The fundraising campaigns of our 2019 schools are already underway. To help them out, visit my.ncgreenpower.org/campaigns. And if you’d like to learn more about the program, check out https://ncgp.wpengine.com/solar-schools/ or read through some of our school stories.