Menifee Valley Middle School goes solar

By: CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer
District's first installation will allow students to monitor solar power production | Friday, March 21, 2008 10:09 PM PDT ∞

MENIFEE ---- Menifee Valley Middle School has become the district's first school to take advantage of the sun to fuel some of its power needs.

Solar panels were installed on the school roof during the past three weeks and will soon begin providing up to 17 percent of the school's electricity needs, Assistant Superintendent Dan Wood said Friday, during a final inspection of the system.

The district spent about $385,000 on the project, $145,000 of which came from a California Energy Commission grant, Wood said. He estimates the district will recoup the difference in eight years through savings in electricity bills.

That is a longer wait than expected, because of unanticipated costs to brace the roof holding the three large sets of panels, he said. The panels are on rooftops over the office, library and multipurpose rooms of the school, Wood said, adding that those buildings are 22 years old.

"We have learned to incorporate it into new school construction, or to at least put in a strong enough roof so that we can install panels in the future," he said. "We are looking at it for our new schools, and hoping the technology becomes even more efficient."

The district's interest in solar energy was prompted by the chance to save on electricity bills and because the solar energy is nonpolluting, he said. They chose the middle school in part because it is the district's least-efficient school as far as energy use, due to all the portable classrooms, he said. The electric bill for the school was $208,000 last fiscal year, Wood said.

The middle school plans to take advantage of the photovoltaic system to teach students about alternative energy, said Ed Resnick, vice principal at Menifee Valley Middle School.

Sixth-graders will explore the system in science classes when they study the Earth, he said.

"We're excited about it," he said. "They will be able to access information about the kilowatt power gained from the panels and different ways we can use that. And part of it is certainly raising awareness here and for everyone who drives by. "

Through a Web site, students will be able to monitor how much energy is being produced by the system, said Michael Gohl of The Sun Works, the Niland-based company that installed the system.

"Then teachers can convert that to questions like how many pizzas that could bake," he said. "It will be kind of neat."

The 198 solar panels can generate up to 28 kilowatts of energy, Gohl said.

Gohl said school districts and commercial building owners increasingly have been using solar power since the state began offering incentives to do so in the late 1990s.

Wood said the district was still researching whether it makes sense to install them at the district's third middle school, which is in the early stages of construction.

"We'll first look at the roof and go from there," he said. "And let's see how it works at Menifee Valley, and how the students get involved and see the value of that."

School board member Phoeba Irey had asked district staff members to explore the solar incentive program, she said, and was pleased to see it in place at Menifee Valley Middle School.

"I'm very happy they did it," she said. "It makes so much sense in this area, and I wish we could get them on all the schools. If we can, we will."

The Menifee district has taken other environmentally friendly steps such as swapping out diesel school buses for ones powered by natural gas, installing an energy management system to limit heating and air conditioning, planting drought-tolerant vegetation and installing low-flow plumbing fixtures.

Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or e-mail credfern@californian.com.

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