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Grant gives Scattergood 2kW of power, education
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · July 21, 2010
The electric meter at Scattergood Friends School may run backward.
And knowledge about solar energy will move forward.
Earlier this month, Scattergood had solar panels installed on the roof of the gymnasium, the product of a more than $25,000 grant from the National Center for Appropriate Technology and a supplemental $7,000 grant from Alliant Energy which integrated it into their system.
That left Scattergood to cover the remaining $6,500 of the nearly $39,000 project that will bring up to 2 kilowatts of photovoltaic energy and a pilot educational program to the campus.
Margie Figgins, director of development at the high school, said the final connections should be complete by the end of the month, including a new Alliant meter that can run backward if the panels produce more electricity than the campus consumes, giving Scattergood a credit on its utility bill.
Scattergood is one of the first five Iowa schools to get the NCAT grant, which the school hopes will also augment its general science, physics and possibly its chemistry classrooms.
“We envision other schools coming on field trips to see it,” she said. Visiting schools already tour Scattergood’s farms to witness harvest, maple syrup production and birthing times.
The NCAT grant also pays for equipment to record and post data online, showing how much electricity the panels collect. The 2 kW is about 25 percent of the energy needs of an average household, according to an Iowa Sun4Schools press release.
The school will also host a public workshop to demonstrate the technology.
“We’re harvesting the sun, but for a different purpose,” Scattergood Head of School Christine Ashley said.
The campus in the 1970s had a solar-powered grain-drying operation, a pilot project of the Department of Energy. These new solar panels will convert photos directly into electricity and tie into the electrical grid that services the campus.
“(Scattergood is) also a visible symbol of each school’s commitment to saving energy and reducing its carbon footprint,” read the NCAT press release.
The rural West Branch school was selected because it has a history of actively pursuing energy-saving measures, read the press release, “and selection criteria was based in part on the community participation in the schools’ conservation efforts.
The NCAT funding comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus funding, and is managed by the Iowa Office of Energy Independence.
Figgins said the school would like to eventually add wind power to the campus, which would “cover a large portion of the clock.”
“We’re the perfect campus for green ideas,” Ashley said. “We’re a small educational community. We invite this. We’re demystifying renewable resources for students.”
Jody Barkley of JCB Electric said such a system is practical for homes, and he is seeing it more and more.
With more incentives from the state to complement Alliant’s incentives, “I expect it to pick up in Iowa,” he said.
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