It just got less expensive and a whole lot greener to turn on the lights and boot up the computers at Escuela Verde, 3628 W Pierce St. Going solar was a long-time dream for Escuela Verde (“Green School”)—a small, public, charter high school devoted to sustainability, student-led learning and restorative justice. The dream came true for the school when a new solar energy system went live on the school’s roof in August. The solar panels will supply about 40% of the school’s electricity.
Founded in 2012, Escuela Verde moved to its present location in 2015. As a state-certified green school, it had to make sure that its infrastructure was sustainable. For a while, however, it seemed that the dream of going solar might be cost prohibitive. In 2014, the school obtained an estimate that topped $100,000 for a rooftop solar energy system. At the time, it seemed like a lot of money, especially since Escuela Verde was paying for the $300,000 abandoned building that was to become its new home in 2015. But then the school got lucky.
A string of fortuitous events eventually led to the installation of the solar system at a cost it could afford. First, a local solar panel manufacturer that was going out of business donated some solar panels to the school. For a couple of years, the panels were stacked up on pallets in the basement, while Escuela Verde was trying to raise the money to build out the solar energy system. Things began to come together when Peter Murphy, solar program manager at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA), contacted Pewaukee’s SunVest Solar on Escuela Verde’s behalf. MREA shares space with Escuela Verde, and Murphy knew about the panels in storage and the school’s desire to go solar. Catie Malcheski, project manager at SunVest Solar, says that Murphy also knew about some grant opportunities that might work well for Escuela Verde. Eventually, the school decided to partner with SunVest.
Finding the Funds
The first step was to write grant proposals on Escuela Verde’s behalf, says Malcheski. One was for a Renewable Energy Competitive Incentive Program (RECIP) grant from Focus On Energy. The second proposal was for Solar For Good, facilitated by RENEW Wisconsin, which specifically targets Wisconsin nonprofits that want to go solar. Escuela Verde was awarded both grants, bringing the installation and equipment costs down from $42,000 to $25,000, an amount the school could afford. Malcheski says it was a complicated project to design.
|
|
“The panels that were donated were all different,” she says. “They were different in dimensions and different in wattage. To wire those up is challenging. It was quite the feat. I must give credit to our vice president of operations, Adam Gusse, as well as the folks over at Current Electric.” While SunVest was the developer and designer of the project, it used Current Electric to physically install the system. Current Electric helped with the engineering and developed a solution so that all the panels could be used.
“We expect to save $800 per month” in electric bills says Joey Zocher, an advisor at Escuela Verde. “We’re a small school, and that’s a ton of money.” If that savings materializes, Escuela Verde will recover its costs in a few years and could realize savings of close to $100,000 in 10 years. The school has a computer program connected to the solar arrays that allows students to see how much energy is being used by different configurations of panels and also to see how their use of solar energy impacts the environment. “Solar gets the kids to start thinking about energy and all the things they can do to conserve energy,” Zocher says. “That is something that everyone can bring home.”
Serving as a Model
For Daniel Rodriguez, who graduated from Escuela Verde in June, the solar installation project landed him his first job. Last year, he got a scholarship from MREA to take weekend classes in solar energy installation which led to solar energy installer certification. Rodriguez then worked on the Escuela Verde installation and was hired as an installer by Current Electric. He donated part of his first check to the school.
As a solar energy-using school, Escuela Verde now joins Riverside and Bay View high schools, and SunVest is currently constructing a 14-kilowatt array at Vincent High School in Milwaukee and is also building a 1,853-kilowatt, roof-mounted array at Madison Area Technical College; the latter will be the largest roof-mounted solar array in Wisconsin.
As a pioneer in solar energy, Escuela Verde serves as a model for other schools and nonprofits that want to go solar. “I want to applaud Escuela Verde for taking the steps to actually walk the talk,” says Malcheski. “I want also to encourage others who are in the same boat and that have a similar mission to seek their options, see what they can feasibly do and perhaps find out about funding opportunities that they wouldn’t have known about otherwise.”
On Saturday, Sept. 29, bike riders will travel about 25 miles on paved roads and bike paths to visit innovative wind, solar and biogas facilities throughout Milwaukee. Stops will include Escuela Verde, the biodigester at Potawatomi Hotel and Casino, Milwaukee Public Museum and the wind turbine at the Port of Milwaukee. Visit Renew Wisconsin at renewwisconsin.org for more information.
