Students at the Kamloops Christian School have been working on all week helping install solar panels on the school's rooftop (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

SOLAR ENERGY

Harnessing the power of solar energy at the Kamloops Christian School

Jun 8, 2019 | 8:22 AM

A group of students at the Kamloops Christian School have been getting an introduction this week on the power of solar energy.

They’ve been working with local company Riverside Energy Systems, both in the classroom and in the field, to learn the basics of solar power.

The students are part of the Applied Design Skill Technology course. For the last three days, Riverside Energy has been teaching them how to put four solar panels in place on the roof of Kamloops Christian School.

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Grade 9 student Liam Draeger says the experience was eye opening.

“The main thing I learned about solar panels is that it is a better investment, and it works a lot better in Canada than a lot of people think,” He says, “And it’s a lot cheaper.”

Fellow student Benjamin Lloyd says he learned a lot about how the panels can benefit the school.

“Mainly about inverters and what they do. They transfer DC, which is coming from the solar panel, into AC energy, which is transferred between everywhere in the building.”

Riverside Energy Systems co-owner Ben Giudici says the solar panels will provide a minimal amount of power to the school.

“Those four panels might produce about 1400 Kilowatt hours a year, which might have a value after tax of maybe $150 annually”

Giudici says the cost benefits will come down the road with more solar panels and a jump in hydro prices. However, the project is more geared towards giving the kids a hands-on experience, learning about the alternative energy source.

Kamloops Christian School Principal Sandro Cuzzetto says installing the panels themselves gives students a beyond-the-classroom learning experience.

“Some of these kids, they learn way better with hands-on work than they do with paper work. So we wanted to make sure that we gave our students the opportunity to do real world application of their knowledge.”

Giudici is also hoping to open the students’ eyes to potential career opportunities. He says many of the kids are more open to the idea of this type of power.

“It’ll be a system that keeps on teaching, because they’ll be able monitor its performance using a website, and see how it’s impacting the building.” Giudici says, “Many of them have insight that older people wouldn’t have on this because climate change, the introduction of electric vehicles, and the cost of energy rising is going to impact them a lot more than it’ll impact me. Because I’m older than they are.”

The Christian School plans to add solar panels to the rooftop every year, with the potential for 80 to 90 panels in all.