As part of the APS Solar for Schools Program, students at more than 30 Arizona schools will come back from summer break to find their classrooms powered by solar energy. In addition – and perhaps more importantly – the students will have the opportunity to learn about solar power thanks to educational kiosk displays provided by APS and project partner AlsoEnergy.
Through the Solar for Schools Program, APS designs, builds, owns and maintains a photovoltaic solar system on a K-12 school at no upfront cost to the district. APS recently contracted with AlsoEnergy to provide energy performance and production monitoring data and education kiosks on the schools.
“The APS owned portion of the Solar for Schools Program provides an uncanny opportunity for K-12 schools – located primarily in rural areas of the state – to take advantage of the power of the sun without dipping into their school budget,” says Tony Tewelis, APS Director of Technology Solutions. “Adding the educational kiosks has taken this program to another level. The students will learn what solar panels can produce at different times of the day and see how much electricity their school is consuming. We’re helping to power classrooms for the future leaders of our communities.”
The educational kiosks that APS selected are AlsoEnergy’s PowerLobby displays, customizable kiosks that will be placed inside each building to show data such as sun tracking, number of kilowatt-hours saved and information about how much money the school is saving on its electric bill. Teachers will have access to the data and the ability to create science lessons about how energy is produced and used.
The schools participating in the program have contracted with APS to secure a fixed utility rate for 20 years. For more information about the APS Solar for Schools Program, visit aps.com/solar.
AlsoEnergy
www.AlsoEnergy.com
