From Solarpower.org
In Exeter, New Hampshire, the high school of the same name is going solar in a big way.
In fact, the roof of Exeter High School will soon sport the largest collection of solar panels in the state, outranking Stonyfield Farm (50 kilowatts), and Public Service of New Hampshire’s (PSNH) headquarters (51.3 kilowatts, and former champion).
Exeter’s system, with a maximum potential of 100 kilowatts, will provide up to 10 percent of the school’s electricity needs and save the school district about $170,000 in the first year alone – a figure that will increase dramatically if PSNH is granted its requested rate increase, part of which is aimed to cover last winter’s $75 million in ice storm losses.
The 394 15-foot solar panels are the result of a partnership between Revolution Energy (a scalable renewable energy solutions company) and four other entities who call themselves the New England Seacoast Energy Partnership. The installation is slated for the end of this year.
New Hampshire, with its solar insolation rating of 3.0 (on a scale of 2.0 to 9.0) doesn’t seem like a likely place for solar panels, but in fact cooler climates make solar photovoltaic energy more efficient, by reducing electrical resistance to the flow of electrons that convert sunlight into electricity. This factor is called a temperature coefficient.
Of course, Exeter isn’t the first high school in the nation to install solar. Such installations are becoming commonplace from the Sunbelt (California, Louisiana and Florida, for example) to the Northeast – where New Jersey is becoming a solar superstar – and the Midwest. In Illinois, the more than 50 schools participating in solar panel installation makes the Solar Schools map look like a field of yellow balloons.
In terms of size nationwide, Exeter takes second place to the 110.775-kilowatt system installed for the Smithtown Central School District by the Long Island Power Authority, or LIPA. Another large installation is represented by SolarCity’s 131.5-kilowatt solar installation at the Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley, California. And even the SolarCity installation takes a serious second place to Marin County, California’s San Domenico School, where Recurrent Energy installed, owns and operates a 412-kilowatt system whose 2,358 solar photovoltaic panels span almost the length and width of a football field.
