WE’RE A SOLAR SCHOOL!

Solar Schools

What is a solar school?

• ‘Solar Schools’ is an initiative run by the environmental charity 10:10. Each year it selects 20 schools and helps them to raise money to install solar panels at their school. The aim is to help schools:
  • Cut their carbon emissions
  • To learn more about climate change and some steps we can take to limit it
  • Generate annual income for the school from the solar panels
  • Schools are ideally suited for solar energy because they use most of their energy during daylight hours.

What are we planning to do?

• We are planning on installing 20 pairs of ground mounted solar panels that will have a total output of 10KW
• Subject to planning, these will be mounted in a line on the ground at the back right of the school playing field. This will be on south facing sloping ground that is not used by the children for sports or play.

The environmental benefits

• The panels will enable the school to save over 100,000kg of carbon emissions over the next 25 years (the equivalent of more than 250 barrels of oil)

The finances

• The total cost for purchase and installation of the panels is around £15,000
• We get paid Feed in Tariff (FIT) payments by the government for the energy which we generate. This will be in the region of £1500 each year for the next 20 years (these payments are index linked and so will increase with inflation)
• We will also get paid for the export of electricity to the grid and this should give another £250 per year (also index linked).
• In addition to being paid we will also save money on our electricity bills as we will use the electricity produced in the school and are likely to decrease our annual bills by up to £800 each year.

The total annual benefit to the school is around £2500 per year or £50,000 over 20 years (and this income is linked to inflation). This is money that can be spent on improving the facilities and the educational opportunities of the children of Georgeham and Croyde both now and for many years to come.

Installing solar panels will give a legacy to the school – it will be a gift that will keep on giving!

How are we going to raise the money?

This is a joint initiative between the school, the governors & FROGS (Friends of Georgeham School – the parents association). We are really excited about the challenge of raising the money for school to get its own solar panels.

We are planning a range of ways of reaching our target:

• Fundraising activities and events for both pupils, parents and the community
• Donations from local businesses and individuals
• Applications for grants from trusts / funds

We are going to have a Blue Peter style totaliser so you can see how we are getting on. We also have a fundraising website http://www.solarschools.org/georgeham that will have lots of information about what we are doing, our latest news about how we are getting on, as well as the opportunity to give online and send a message.

We really hope that it will be a great opportunity for the community to get behind supporting the school.

Timescale

• It is our aim to raise the funds this academic year and to install the solar panels at the end of the summer term.

Solar Schools video below…

Solar Schools in one minute from 10:10 on Vimeo.