Peninsula Light Community Solar
The Harbor Community Solar project is now generating electricity (click HERE to track the electric generation), and hundreds of our members are participating in the renewable-energy field. The 60-kilowatt photovoltaic system was built on the roof of the Harbor History Museum and energized on November 6, 2015. As the solar panels convert the sun’s rays into electricity, the museum will use the power for the life of the system, and our participating members will be eligible for annual state incentives for the first four years. In addition, Peninsula Light Company provided support for Solar 4R Schools renewable energy education training for local educators and durable science kits and curricula to facilitate using the community solar project as a local learning opportunity for students and the community.
Local students will have an opportunity to visit the to the solar array as well as students and families from around the region and beyond. The Solar 4R Schools Educator training was designed for non formal educators who would be seeing student-visitors for only a few hours with minimal time to implement solar lesson plans as well as formal K-12 educators who would have their students all year. The educator professional development modeled activities that can both be implemented in a short session as well as have longer extensions that lead into engineering design cycles. Solar 4R Schools worked collaboratively with Peninsula School District and Harbor History Museum to design two different types of science kits. For the school district, three different scaled kits were constructed in a manner that would prevent any student from double-exposure to the same activities throughout their K-12 experience in the small district. These kits were oriented toward long-term usage and experimentation in a highly exploratory, project-based manner. The kits for the museum were designed with quick engineering challenges in mind, such as solar car or solar boat races. Additionally, the museum kit is meant to provide materials that can be used for an extensive period of time by many different new students as well as have parts supplemented in from outside, recycled sources. Following the teacher workshop this summer and implementation throughout the school year, BEF staff worked with the Harbor History Museum, Peninsula School District staff and Peninsula Light Co. to organize a culminating student solar boat engineering challenge during the Harbor Days festival in June following 2016-17 implementation of the new lessons. Check out Peninsula Light Co.'s video posted to Facebook to see some solar boats in action!
Peninsula Light would like to thank the Harbor History Museum and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation for their partnership on the community solar project. As part of an ongoing effort, an educational display will be installed inside the museum that will help track the electric generation of the project. Later on, academic modules will be available for teachers in the Peninsula School District so they can learn about the power of renewable energy and incorporate the material in their classrooms.
Check out this article in The News Tribune in Gig Harbor Washington about our partnership with Peninsula Light Company, Harbor History Museum and Peninsula School District.
