NEVC harnesses the power of the sun

These solar panels sit atop NEVC high school and will produce electricity for the school. Photo by Gloria Tucker/Daily Mail

Nevada Daily Mail

Lower energy bills and hands-on education are some of the benefits the students and faculty at Northeast Vernon County schools will experience as four solar panel systems come online next week.

"This is important because it's saving the district money," Superintendent Charles Naas said. "We can reallocate money that we would spend on energy for students and faculty. At a higher level, being able to utilize natural energy appeals to me. We have the sun; we might as well tap into that."

Brightergy, a Kansas City based energy company, is installing three systems on the elementary school roof and one system on the high school roof. The district will lease the solar panel systems for 20 years by signing over tax credits the district would have received if it wasn't a public, nonprofit entity.

The solar panels are estimated to produce more than 113,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually that will translate into an estimated $5,000 in saved energy costs in their first year and in excess of $221,000 over 20 years. This will also offset nearly 88 tons of carbon dioxide on an annual basis.

"For us the cost was zero," Naas said. "It's guaranteed savings. I haven't paid a nickel for anything."

Naas heard about the company through a friend and decided to look further into the solar panel project. He presented the plan to the board of dducation in the spring of last year and the board unanimously voted to move forward on the project.

Once completed, each building will receive a monitor that provides visitors to the school lobby a visualization of how the solar energy system works, how much energy the school's producing and the impact on energy savings and the environment.

This same information will translate to curriculum for science and math classes. Teachers will have access to each school's online monitoring of their solar systems and NEVC will also get an education package with an energy and environment curriculum which uses actual data produced at the school.

"The district is thrilled to be part of a technology that will benefit everyone in the community," Naas said. "Aside from the obvious benefit of producing our own electricity, we will be able to divert funds from plant operation into academic areas. This makes energy a little more tangible to students. They'll be able to see that there's a dollar amount attached to energy."