Beaverton Health and Science School

The 99.79-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system installed at the Beaverton Health and Science School is one of three similar PV systems installed on Beaverton School District (BSD) school 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 BSD with free solar power generated by the PV systems for 15 years, saving the District about $30,000.00 each year in electricity costs. The system installed on the Beaverton Health and Science School roof is rated to produce about 100,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

Through the award of a Renewable Classroom PLUS project from Solar 4R Schools, the school transformed their existing on-site PV system into an interactive classroom tool while building a community of dedicated renewable energy educators. Energy monitoring services and hardware provided to the school connected the system's live solar energy data to the Energy Exploration Center at Solar4RSchools.org—allowing students and educators nationwide to compare, contrast, chart, graph and understand the system's performance data to further understand the science of solar energy production.

A touchscreen kiosk located within the school helps engage school visitors, parents, students and teachers by giving them direct access to their system's live performance data as well as key facts about the science and benefits of renewable energy.

In addition, in 2011 teachers at the school received a customized renewable energy teacher training from Solar 4R Schools, matched with 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 classroom integration over time, every aspect of the support awarded by Solar 4R Schools was customized to 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 their classroom integration as efficient as possible.