At the Steelton-Highspire School District in central Pennsylvania, school students spend their recces time right next to an 8 acre solar array.
“They lose a couple of balls over there, footballs and basketballs, stuff like that comes over the fence,” said Mick Iskric, superintendent of the district. He says the installation, which was put in over two years ago, has plenty of benefits.
For students,
“Helps them with their ball throwing skills.”
And for tax payer wallets.
“It results in us saving 15,000 a year,” said Iskric. "You do that for two years, you have a paraprofessional salary.”
The panels power the entire district, which all sits on the same plot of land. As part of a power purchase authority, an energy company offered to install and maintain the field—so the district had no upfront costs in exchange for a 20 year contract.
Iskric says they will save $15,000 the first 13 years, but starting in year 14 there will be $200,000 in annual savings. Overall, they expect to spend $3.6 million less than if they continued with traditional energy.
Steelton-Highspire's story is one of several across the state that inspired a new Solar for Schools grant program.
“It feels like such a great time for the Commonwealth to make this investment in schools across PA,” said Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-184), who sponsored the law.
Signed as part of the 2024/25 budget, the Department of Environmental Protection has a website with descriptions, excel sheets, and presentations to educate schools on how to navigate installing a solar project. One big choice districts would consider; do they want to own the project, or partner with an energy company for a power purchase authority?
There is a also a grant pool of $25 million to back up the education resources. Applications are expected to open in October.
Right now, 9% of school districts in Pennsylvania have solar power as part of their energy portfolio. That’s according to a March, 2024 report from group Generation180. While a few, like Steelton-Highspire, are fully powered by solar; most districts have partial power, or maybe just one building tapping into solar. Out of 6000 school buildings, 114 (<2%) have solar.
Fiedler shared how solar can provide financial savings—and has health and environment benefits… especially as aging school facilities need updates anyways.
“A lot of school buildings across Pennsylvania are very, very old,” Fiedler paused, “Very old."
"They need work. But as you do other large scale improvements, it’s a great way to do that project in partnership with solar project, right?” said Fiedler. "Make sure that your electrical system can support a solar array on the roof.”
State grants can cover up to 50% of a project, and can be stacked with federal grants— that are also in abundance.
In turn, schools have hands on access to a future career field in their own backyard. Or roof.
“There's also schools that have partnered to have stem and physics and thermodynamics lessons focused on the solar panels. So there's like huge possibilities when it comes to careers,” said Fiedler.
"It's an opportunity for students to be able to learn from the sun and be educated by the sun, and it just offsets the expenses 100%,” said Iskric.