Gladstone High School

The 95-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system at Gladstone High School is one of three similar renewable energy systems installed onto Gladstone area buildings in 2011. These projects are a public-private partnership that combines private energy investor funding and the donated roof space from each school. The partnership provides the school with free solar power generated by the PV systems for 15 years, saving the school each year in electricity costs.

The PV system installed on the school's roof is rated to produce about 95,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. The system is broken up into two arrays: one array with 322 PV modules installed on the auditorium and science wing; and a second array with 84 modules on the Advanced Technology Center. Both arrays have the same tilt angle, but they they are oriented in slightly different directions. The first array is set at 155 degrees toward southeast while the second is set at 188 degrees toward southwest.

Through the award of a Renewable Classroom PLUS project from Solar 4R Schools™, the school has transformed the school's PV system into an interactive classroom tool while building a community of dedicated renewable energy educators. Energy monitoring provided to the school connects live performance data from their PV system to the Energy Exploration Center at Solar4RSchools.org. Students and educators nationwide can chart, graph and analyze the system's performance data for educational purposes.

In addition, in 2011 teachers at the school received a customized renewable energy teacher training, hands-on science kit materials to augment the school's existing curricula, and complete access to the resources available on the Solar4RSchools.org website. To optimize integration of renewable energy science and technology content, every aspect of the support provided by Solar 4R Schools™ was customized to fit the unique focus of the school community, including topics covered in the teacher training as well as our recommendations for activities and science kit materials to make integration of this new content as efficient as possible. A touchscreen kiosk located in a high traffic area of the Gladstone High School allows staff and visitors to interact with live system performance data while learning about the science and benefits of renewable energy.