Solar in Schools - Education in Carbon Footprint

Solar in Schools – Education in Carbon Footprint

Beam recently undertook solar assessments at four Victorian schools, what we found was the predicted solar output profile generated by our in-house software matched the school’s daily energy load profile. This showed that we maximised the solar generation with little export to the grid making schools perfect solar candidates.

Cut Cost on Expenses – Not Learning

For schools, one of the few expense items that can be reduced without impacting student learning is electricity cost. In fact, solar presents a prefect student learning opportunity, especially when teamed up with our solar platform. The real time data shown in the platform provides insight on how and when electricity is used, layered with the predicted solar output from a typical roof mount system.Beam can provide customer logins for students to engage with the software and be part of the decision-making process by selecting different solar scenarios with real time data. This also develops understanding of how energy is used on campus and the potential to adopt more energy efficient practices in reducing the schools carbon footprint.

Unlocking Savings Potential

The solar profile modelled below for a Victorian school represents a 450 kW roof mounted system saving $75,000/pa and 30% off total electricity cost. Due to the generous incentive available to install large scale solar projects using Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates, an outright purchase scenario results in a payback of just 4.5 years. Alternatively a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with zero upfront cost can be highly cashflow positive from day 1.The uptake of solar in schools is an opportunity to show leadership in the pursuit of Carbon Neutrality in the education sector while also taking advantage of reduced operational cost and student engagement.

Begin your school’s desktop assessment today HERE