Clean energy intersected with education with the flip of a switch at Roper Mountain Science Center on Tuesday as utilities and educators turned on the current to 84 rooftop solar panels at the Greenville facility's Symmes Hall of Science.
The solar panels will cover 10-20 percent of the science hall's electricity, but the focus for Roper Mountain isn't just on the energy savings but on the education opportunities the solar array has provided for 50,000 Greenville County school students who visit the center annually, said Valerie Mosher, the center's science, technology, engineering and mathematics specialist.
'It's just a way for us to get the public exposed to alternative energy technologies,' Mosher said. 'They see it and they can generate questions.'
The solar panels connect to an indoor energy lab that shows how the system works and provides real-time data on how much of the sun's energy the system is harnessing at any one time.
Roper Mountain Science Center won a grant through Palmetto Clean Energy, a South Carolina non-profit funded by Duke Energy, to install the panels, which provide 25-kilowatts of energy, about six times the size of a home solar system.
The Roper Mountain Science Center Association, Greenville County Schools and Lockheed Martin contributed to match the PaCE grant.
The solar grant program started last December as a way to educate the public about alternative energy, said Emily Felt, Duke Energy's director of renewable strategy and compliance.
Palmetto Clean Energy wanted to partner with educational institutions to let the next generation understand how the new energy technology works because it will only become more prevalent in coming years in South Carolina after the state passed its first comprehensive solar energy legislation last session, Felt said.
'Pretty soon, both South Carolina Electric & Gas and Duke Energy will begin to offer customer programs to allow customers who are ready to put solar panels on their homes and really try to give the industry a boost,' she said.
Schools Superintendent Burke Royster said the science center's solar program will help develop the whole student. It furthers the district's emphasis on project-based, hands-on, STEM education.
'They get to actually see it, put their hands on it and experience it,' Royster said. 'There's nothing like that.'
Read or Share this story: http://grnol.co/1qYgkMX
Entities 0 Name: Duke Energy Count: 3 1 Name: Palmetto Clean Energy Count: 2 2 Name: Roper Mountain Science Center Count: 2 3 Name: South Carolina Count: 2 4 Name: Lockheed Martin Count: 1 5 Name: Valerie Mosher Count: 1 6 Name: Felt Count: 1 7 Name: Roper Mountain Science Center Association Count: 1 8 Name: Mosher Count: 1 9 Name: Greenville Count: 1 10 Name: Emily Felt Count: 1 11 Name: Roper Mountain Count: 1 12 Name: Burke Royster Count: 1 13 Name: Greenville County Schools Count: 1 14 Name: Symmes Hall of Science Count: 1 15 Name: Royster Count: 1 16 Name: South Carolina Electric & Gas Count: 1 17 Name: Greenville County Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1uYWmqz Title: Report: America could power itself 100 times over with solar energy Description: It is widely known that among all the sources of alternative energy, the one with the greatest potential is solar. How could it be otherwise? Staggering amounts of solar radiation strike the Earth each day; the only trick is capturing more of them.
Post a Comment for "Rooftop solar electrifies Roper Mountain Science Center - Greenville News"