Students at Pender Harbour Secondary School are getting serious about solar power.
Grade 9 students at the school have taken a trip to BCIT to see how the college is lowering its energy use and the students recently acquired a portable solar power unit to use as a study lab at their school.
This Earth Day the students planned to run the school for a time through the portable unit, provided by Clear Energy Solutions, and in the near future the students plan to start fundraising for solar panels of their own to place on the roof of their school.
Science teacher Jon Fawcus said that learning about solar power is part of the Grade 9 science curriculum and when he heard about the opportunity for a portable solar lab, he and his students jumped at the opportunity.
“Rather than just learning textbooks, this way they can actually see how we harness the solar energy and what it actually is,” Fawcus said.
“One of the goals we’re trying to [achieve] is help these kids gain the knowledge so they can apply that later on in their life … in their families with bringing solar power into their houses, into their camping trailers, into their boats, any way we can have them bring the knowledge to their families and build on that.”
Johana Zilsel of the Sunshine Coast Community Solar Asso-ciation (SCCSA) said she helped facilitate the Clear Energy Solutions solar lab coming to the school when she heard the students were interested.
Clear Energy Solutions has been working closely with the association to help do assessments on homes of people who are interested in getting in on a solar panel bulk buy offered through the SCCSA.
Because of that partnership, Zilsel was familiar with the company’s portable solar unit.
“The trailer has solar panels on the roof, lithium ion batteries inside, also a diesel generator inside. It’s very sophisticated. It has so many smart features and yet it works so simply,” Zilsel said.
“They designed it, and their idea is it can go in emergency places where people can largely power by solar, but then if they can’t there’s a diesel back up.”
Clear Energy Solutions brought the unit to the school and taught the students about it free of charge, then left the unit there for the students to further study and work with.
“The hands-on learning experience for the students and the community support has been fantastic for us,” Fawcus said.
He noted some of his students are particularly keen and plan to start setting up solar energy systems of their own in the near future, while others are considering careers in the industry.
“We’ve got a couple of students who are really running with it,” Fawcus said. “Some of them want to be able to run a little fridge in their hunting cabin, whereas other are wanting to take the knowledge and go into engineering programs in university.”
Zilsel is pleased with the enthusiasm students are showing in Pender Harbour and she hopes other schools will consider similar learning opportunities in the future.
She also hopes more homeowners will take advantage of a bulk buy opportunity the SCCSA still has available.
Zilsel is looking for more interested homeowners to commit to purchasing solar panels, so the association can offer lower prices by buying big.
“The bulk buy isn’t closed yet because we had hoped to have about twice what we do have and the price, of course, is dependent on volume,” Zilsel said.
“At this moment we only have about 154 panels and we were hoping for a minimum of 300 panels, which would lower the price a bit.”
She realizes cost is the main stumbling block for those wanting to try solar power but said the Sunshine Coast Credit Union (SCCU) has a program in place where homeowners (financed by SCCU) can borrow the money for solar panels and have the payments added to their mortgage.
Ed Pednaud of SCCU confirmed Zilsel’s claim and added that the credit union also has another program where “we can do it on an unsecured basis, where we’re not taking anything for security but [payback is] over a shorter time, say over 10 years.”
To find out more about the SCCU programs, visit your local credit union. To add your name to the SCCSA’s list contact Zilsel by email at [email protected]
