Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Ohio School System Adds Rooftop Solar Field

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 07/25/19

Federal Hocking Local Schools had a "grand 'turn on'" of its new solar power plant. Now, 1,968 solar panels installed on the roof of the joint middle and high school building will provide energy to the Ohio school system.

The solar system is expected to generate about 700 kilowatts of renewable energy annually, which will cover about 70 percent of the building's energy needs during the year. The project was contracted to Third Sun Solar.

In local reporting, the project was promoted as a way to cut the cost of energy, reduce carbon footprint and teach students about the renewable energy industry.

Early in the project, Superintendent George Wood explained how funding the system worked: An outside company would own the plant and the school district would "buy energy from them at a reduced cost." The district also invested $400,000 from its reserve account to reduce the cost of the electricity it would be purchasing and to "speed up the buy-back option on the plant." By doing so, said Wood, "we will see reduced annual costs, accelerate our path to ownership and have more money for annual expenses."

He also suggested during the official launch that other schools should take the same route. "You’re generating cheap, clean energy. You’re getting an educational benefit from kids and you’re being a good steward of public resources. Seems to me it’s a win-win solution for everyone," he said.

Eventually, the school community will be able to track the energy produced by the site through an online dashboard that displays current power and energy generated for the day, month and lifetime of the installation.

Research by the Solar Foundation reported that the state of Ohio had 45 schools that have "gone solar."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Children walking along bright school corridor with motion blur

    How Next-Gen Design Is Reshaping the Student Experience

    The environments where students learn play a crucial role in shaping their growth in and out of the classroom. By centering design on well-being, flexibility, and purpose, districts can ensure their facilities remain vibrant community assets for many years to come.