Going solar pays for schools
Savings of $20m a year on electricity bills could be made
New Zealand schools could soon sport rooftop solar panels to help tackle climate change — and cut up to $20 million a year off their power bills. The Labour and Green Parties have said in their governing agreement that “solar panels on schools will be investigated” as part of moving electricity to 100 per cent renewable, non-carbon-burning sources by 2035.
Panama Rd School in Mt Wellington is using charitable funding to install 30 solar panels on its roof this weekend, and will use the $2000 a year it will save off its power bill to buy devices and other learning tools to prepare its decile 1 children for their future.
“We’ll put it back into our students’ learning,” said principal Jane Dold.
Sustainable Electricity Association chairman Brendan Winitana said the country’s 2500 schools could cut their power bills by $20m a year if they all installed solar energy.
“Schools are the perfect place to install solar because they consume all of their energy during the day and can, therefore, maximise the financial benefits,” he said.
“If every school in New Zealand were to install a 25 kWp [ kilowatt peak] system then the cost would be about $150m and this is the scale that the Government should be investigat-
HWatch the video at nzherald.co.nz ing because it makes financial sense.
“A solar system installed on a school in New Zealand would be paid back within seven years, after which time the savings made on the electricity bill could be diverted into better learning opportunities for students.”
Panama Rd School is one of 367 schools known by the Ministry of Education to be still using coal-fired boilers to heat water for radiators in its classrooms. A further 363 schools are known to use gas-fired boilers.
Dold said the solar panels would be used to reduce the power bill for lighting and appliances, but the school could not yet afford a new heating system to replace the coal.
Her priority for any money saved would be replacing computers, some of which are “well past their use-by date”.
Thirty iPads were donated by another school that was upgrading, and 10 more were donated by the 20/20 Trust when the school joined the Computers in Homes scheme, which provides free second-hand computers to parents in low-decile schools if they attend a course to learn how to use them.
Computers in Homes funding ended in June, but this week’s Labour/NZ First coalition deal has pledged to restore it.
The school is also part of a new “Family Connect” pilot scheme funded by the Tertiary Education Commission for adults with low educational qualifications.
“We have a computer suite open to the community,” Dold said.
The school raised the $19,600 cost of the solar panels from the Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board ($7500), the Mt Wellington Charitable Trust ($5000) and Mercury Energy, its electricity supplier.
Ministry of Education infrastructure head Kim Shannon knew of more than 130 schools that had installed solar panels or were doing so.