Project Details:Top

Utility Name:	Pacific Gas and Electric
Utility Type:	IOU
Funding Source(s):	Corporate Discretionary Budget
State:	California | CA
Region:	West
Utility Program(s):	Distributed Solar Systems,Solar Energy Credits (RECs, etc),Educational Partnerships (gov't, non-profit, school, etc)
Technology:	PV

Project Description:Top

Pacific Gas & Electric's (PG&E) Solar Schools Program provides small PV systems and educational materials to public K-12 schools in PG&E's service area. The program began in 2004 and is operated through two partnerships - the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), which manages equipment purchase, installation and school selection, and the National Energy Education Project (NEED), which manages curriculum training, provides a teacher blog, and administers the Bright Ideas grants of $2,500 to $5,000 for school solar science projects. The individual schools own the Renewable Energy Credits (REC) from their solar system. By October 2008, one hundred systems were installed through the program.

Typically, one kW grid-tied PV systems, ground-mounted on two-axis trackers, are installed at each school. Each produces about 2,000 kWh/year. The PV systems are sized primarily for educational purposes, and are not intended to supply the school with a significant percentage of its electricity.

Each system includes performance monitoring through Fat Spaniel technology, which provides online monitoring and real-time data on the systems performance, as well as the amount of electricity generated. The web interface provides opportunities for ready-made graphical interpretations of the PV performance data, including comparisons to energy used by common references and carbon dioxide emissions.

Each Solar School receives a specialized renewable energy curriculum package for teachers, who are also invited to participate in a PG&E sponsored teacher training workshop, held periodically.

One of the goals of PG&E has been to educate students about energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as align charitable giving with utility needs. The Solar Schools program fills this need and was developed in partnership with FEE, which has experience running PV schools programs in other states. PG&E's Charitable Contributions group administers the program and reports to the Community Involvement Department within the utility. FEE specifies the equipment and a solar vendor, currently Solar City, procures, installs and maintains the systems. The PG&E's Corporate Foundation funds the program and contributed about $2.5 million in 2008.

Project Links:Top

General Project Description: http://www.pge.com/myhome/environment/pge/solarschools/

Video of PG&E Solar Schools TV Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh6RWzNjRYY

Participant Tools:

• Teacher's Blog - http://energyseeds.com/category/solar-schools/california/
• School Application Form - http://www.need.org/pgesolarschools/pdf/grantapplication2008.pdf
• Fat Spaniel Solar Schools Performance monitoring - http://fs-web5.fatspaniel.net/PGE_SSH/
• Teachers' Workshop power point presentation: http://www.need.org/pgesolarschools/pdf/SolarSchoolsWorkshopPresentation.pdf

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