The Little School That Could (and Did)

Overview

Project: Holston View Elementary School
Location: Bristol, TN
Installer: Ecological Energy Systems
Date Commissioned: July 2013
System Size: 200 modules
Module Manufacturer: MAGE Solar
Array Capacity: 50kw

Bristol, Tennessee’s Holston View Elementary School is forging a new path for schools by demonstrating that a solar array can do more than produce power – it can provide a practical and positive venue for learning.

The school’s older outdoor classrooms had been gradually deteriorating from the weather, but Holston View’s principal, Jerry Poteat, had an idea. Poteat, formerly an elementary teacher and technology director, had wanted a small solar array to be installed at the school for some time. Discussing his ideas with Pete Morenings of local installation company Ecological Energy Systems (EES), the two came upon an elegant solution. They would build a large, elevated solar pavilion that would generate 50kW of maximum power and double as the roof of a new outdoor classroom.

Morenings and Poteat chose MAGE Solar modules with integrated SolarBridge Technologies AC microinverters as the system’s primary components. Unlike central and string inverter systems, AC systems can mitigate issues related to roof orientation, passing clouds, and partial shade from trees. Microinverters maximize energy from each module, and act as “mini power converters” for each panel. If one panel stops producing power due to shadows or debris, all the other panels are unaffected. “You avoid a single point of failure,” said Poteat. “If one module fails it doesn’t kill everything else.”

The 30-year warranty on both panel and microinverter was also important in the choice of modules, said Morenings. “We wanted a strong manufacturer that sells a product that will be supported. MAGE is a worldwide company based in Germany that has been in business for 45 years; they’re privately held and very conservative. In fact, MAGE is now our preferred vendor because of their warranty. The fact that MAGE has partnered with SolarBridge Technologies to create AC modules was a big plus.”

The entire project – from conception to completion—was completed in a little more than a month. Financed by EES and a small group of investors by way of a power purchase agreement, the project incurred no out-of-pocket costs for the school. Power produced by the system will be fed to the grid—enough to power eight homes on an average day. Once the system pays for itself – in 10 to 15 years – ownership of the array will be transferred to the school to reduce its electricity costs directly – a nice hedge against future inflation of energy costs.

A sizeable concrete slab under the array – large enough to house the entire student body — demarcates the new outdoor classroom. The slab’s perimeter consists of rectangular areas that provide a game board. The school is developing an educational game that will use the board to teach students about alternative energy and ecological responsibility.

The solar pavilion and game board will offer teachers and students other educational opportunities as well, said Poteat. “Students can learn how to measure how many light bulbs the array is powering. The game board will help students learn how to plot points and lines. They may learn how to use a compass and sundial.”

The MAGE online power portal, which will allow students to observe the individual performance of each module, is the icing on the pavilion’s pedagogical cake. “We’ll be able to watch how production varies depending on factors such as cloud cover, and look at logs and see patterns in generation,” said Poteat.

“All in all, the educational opportunities are endless.”

Poteat hopes the array, which will offset 13% of the school’s electricity use, will raise the threshold of students’ expectations. “We’d like them to take for granted that solar is an everyday thing, so that when they go elsewhere and don’t see solar, they’ll think, ‘How come?’” He believes the pavilion will also foster a deeper interest in renewable energy that students may choose to develop further in high school and college.

The pavilion will be available for other schools to use too, including King University and Virginia Highlands Community College. The schools will be able to visit the pavilion in person, or virtually by observing its energy production through the online monitoring system. A related collaboration between Holston View, EES, Virginia Highlands and King University will be the launch of a solar education website that provides lesson plans and assessments for K-12 students.

Poteat said that families whose homes border the school’s property were not only agreeable to the solar installation, but excited. Poteat gave credit to both the Tennessee Valley Authority and local utility Bristol Tennessee Essential Services for helping the project come to fruition. “The fact that they’re supporting our project speaks highly of their foresight.”