Students at the Africentric School at Grant Street and
Livingston Avenue in Columbus have a great opportunity to
experience the power of the sun because of a project
initiated through the Power Section of the Division of Power
and Water.
City Power partnered with several organizations to install a
small, one kilowatt solar unit on the side of the school
building. The panels work: they transfrom the suns rays into
usable electricity.
Partners with the Power Section in this venture were; the
Columbus Schools, the Ohio Energy Project, American
Municipal Power, Ohio, the Foundation for Environmental
Education and the Ohio Department of Energy Efficiency.
The solar school installation was funded through a grant
from the state Office of Energy Efficiency and in-kind
contributions from other partners. The Power Section of the
Division of Power and Water installed the solar panels on
the side of the Africentric School, including a monitoring
device that feeds into the school. The schools did most of
the necessary interior installation, getting the necessasry
wiring into the computer room.
The really great part of the solar project is that it is
more than just a way to generate a little bit of
electricity. Actually, one of the primary purposes is as an
educational tool to teach students about renewable energy
sources and even allow them to monitor weather.
A monitor in the computer room at the Africentric School has
access to a software program which allows students to watch
in real-time how much power the panels are generating from
the sun's rays. The program also allows students to monitor
air temperature. Then the idea is to allow them to study how
season, climate and weather affect the system's ability to
produce power.
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