ICNC-Schools Going Solar

The City of Chicago, has turned a brownfield into a brightfield. Solar manufacturer Spire Corporation, headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts [U.S.A.], is opening an assembly plant on property abandoned when a debris recycler was charged with violating environmental ordinances. From that site, Spire will assemble photovoltaic arrays destined for public schools all over the city.

“Our Solar for Schools program represents a strong partnership between the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, and the electric utility Commonwealth Edison,” says Juli Pollitt, senior marketing manager with Chicago’s regional office of the U.S. Department of Energy. Her office decided, when given the challenge of finding their way to participate in the nationwide Million Roofs initiative, that it would commit to installing solar systems on public schools at every level. The program works on three levels, says Pollitt: there’s the installation of the system, curriculum tie-ins on renewable energy, and the larger message to the community.

First to be outfitted with PV and a curriculum to match will be Reilly School, which educates pre-K through eighth-grade students. Reilly principal Scott Rzechula expects the 10-kilowatt PV installation to reinvigorate the school’s science and math programs. Monitors will be hung in the lunch room so students are constantly reminded of the energy being generated by the solar cells. Rzechula also plans a junior “Reilly Energy Company,” with 15 to 25 fifth- through eighth-graders participating as a board of directors, which will sell electricity as a symbolic gesture back to the city’s Board of Education.

The solar panels going up on the roof at Reilly Elementary will be installed thanks to the generosity of Chicago’s Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Center, operated jointly by IBEW, the local electricians’ union, and the National Electricians’ Contracting Association. Training Center personnel didn’t need any convincing about the value of solar: a 15-kilowatt PV system already powers their own building.

Contact: Juli Pollitt, U.S. Department of Energy, 312.886.8571.

Illinois Solar Energy Association

The Illinois Solar Energy Association (ISEA) was founded in 1975 and chartered by the State of Illinois in 1979. Our goal is to provide energy education and promote the application of solar and renewable energy technologies. ISEA is the Illinois chapter of the American Solar Energy Society. We are a non-profit volunteer organization with no paid staff.