Townsend K-12 School

As a Renewable School, Townsend K-12 School in Washington state is building a dedicated community of renewable energy educators, generating clean energy through their awarded 28-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system, and leveraging the system's performance data as an educational tool to bring energy topics to life in their classrooms.

The PV system produces electricity for the school while providing an real-life educational lab for its students, staff and community. The system consists of 132 Kyocera® 210-watt panels. Under full sun conditions, the system has the potential to light 1,540 compact fluorescent lights (CFLs).

In 2010, educators within 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. Energy monitoring provided by the Solar 4R Schools program made the live performance data from their PV system available for educational purposes. A touchscreen kiosk located within the facility allowed school visitors, parents, students and teachers to interact with the system's live performance data while learning about the science and benefits of renewable energy. This provides students with an immediate perspective as they learn about energy production and conservation.

This project was made possible by generous contributions from NorthWestern Energy, Quick Start Stimulus, Montana Department of Natural Resources, Broadwater County, Cinnabar Foundation, Pacific Light & Power, Broadwater Community Foundation and School Lighting Rebates.