Washington Middle School - Seattle

Washington Middle School's photovoltaic (PV) system was originally installed in July 2004. Located on a hill above Seattle's old historic downtown, Washington Middle School is exposed directly to seasonal winds coming off Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean. Seattle City Light worked closely with the Seattle School District and the Seattle Planning Department to overcome these challenges. This collaboration produced an elegant, yet sturdy 1.2-kilowatt PV installation that demonstrates the practicality of photovoltaics under less-than-perfect conditions.

In addition to building a dedicated community of renewable energy educators, the Renewable Classroom PLUS project award from Solar 4R Schools has transformed the school's existing PV system into a hands-on classroom tool. At the time of the project, energy monitoring awarded to the school connected the live performance data from their PV system to students and educators to analyze the system's performance data for educational purposes.

In 2008, 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.