To the editor:

The school system in the United States spends an average of 6 billion dollars on energy expenses every year. The only expense higher than the cost of energy is facility wages. Public schools across the Midwest will benefit greatly from installing renewable energy in the form of photovoltaic solar panels. These schools will reap a benefit from the long-term cost savings, along with the introduction to renewable energy their students will receive. Schools must install solar fields to illuminate a clean energy future in their communities.

In Bainbridge, Indiana, a school system called North Putnam Community Schools installed a 5,000-panel solar farm in 2016 to offset energy costs saving over 240,000 dollars their first year. This 1.6-megawatt solar farm supplies clean energy to both the high school and the middle school in their system. They intend to use these panels to offset their energy costs through a net-zero method with Duke Energy. A net-zero solar method means that North Putnam intends to create enough energy from the solar panels during the day that they feed “extra” energy back into the grid and offset the costs of powering the schools during the night. Because their energy costs are effectively zero, the project should pay for itself in under 15 years. North Putnam is not the only corporation to utilize solar power in the area. Over 80 different school systems in Indiana have a solar field capable of 0.3-megawatts or more with the surrounding states showing similar numbers. Indiana alone has 1,867 schools in the state (as of 2010) which means only 4.66 percent of the state’s schools are solar-powered. The percentage of schools with solar power needs to increase and now is a better time than any to install solar systems. To capitalize on the U.S. Department of Energy’s federal solar tax credit to promote the installation of solar panels, school corporations need to install now. If Congress does not renew the current tax credit plan, schools face larger installation fees after 2022. Another possible tax credit or stipend that needs implementation is for the land needed by schools to place their solar fields. Landowners around the school should be able to receive a tax credit or stipend for their land to be used for renewable energy purposes. This would aid in speeding up the process of finding land which can be difficult to obtain in many farming towns in the Midwest.

Renewable energy is a rising industry in the United States. Here soon, more people will be needed to provide services to support and design solar panels. Whether they are trade-based jobs or engineering-based jobs, the U.S. will need skilled individuals to work in the solar panel industry. To encourage student involvement in their new solar field, Orleans Community Schools Corporation has “screens stationed around the school [to] show students just how much power the panels have generated each week.” Orleans schools have installed approximately 6 acres of solar panels to power their elementary school and high school. According to the Orleans Community Schools Corporation superintendent Jimmy Ellis, they project a simple payback period of 9.04 years for their solar field with a current cumulative savings of over 500,000 dollars. Their success as well as North Putnam’s display untapped potential for many schools in Indiana as well as the Midwest.

With the implementation of solar power, schools can begin focusing on the best methods to use the money saved for other purposes. One hot topic in the Midwest is teachers’ salaries. An Arkansas school district did just that when they saw the energy savings from their new solar system. The Batesville school district has raised its teachers’ salaries with the savings generated from the installation of 1,400 solar panels. The savings have provided between 2,000 and 3,000 in pay wage increases for each instructor. Solar power will now draw talented teachers to the Batesville schools. Schools need talented teachers more than ever right now especially with the drive towards alternative forms of energy. Raising wages will pull teachers who can teach students about the different forms of renewable energy and the benefits of solar power. Without implementing solar fields in schools, finding teachers to support the new industry will be difficult.

Dawson Dunnuck, Brown County