Schools Line Up to Install Solar Panels

(MoneyWatch)  Schools in our society seem to be perennially cash-strapped, unable to spend extra on frills even if they might make the educational experience better. So it's somewhat surprising that more and more schools are lining up for solar power, some in multi-million dollar deals.

The most recent of these is an agreement between California's Fremont Union High School District and Real Goods Solar, a small, publicly-traded installer whose stock jumped when the $30 million sale was announced. At 3.65 megawatts, the installation will cover almost half the district's power needs.

Another massive array was recently sold near Phoenix, with the Deer Valley Unified School District buying a $6 million, one megawatt system. Some sales figures elsewhere around the nation are lower, but still register in the six figure range.

The schools aren't buying outright. Most are supported by grants, including some from the Department of Energy and IRS, and there are also loan programs they can tap into. State programs open up solar for schools in some less-than-sunny places -- the Puget Sound region of Washington state, for example, not to mention Vermont and Colorado and, across the pond, the United Kingdom with its Clear Skies program.

Financial support means that school districts can engineer plans that save them money over a long period of time, even if the amounts are relatively small. There are some other reasons solar makes sense for schools, in particular. A big one is that energy needs at schools tend to peak right along with sunlight. By the time the sun is headed down, the kids are home and there's no more need for electricity.

However, the big motivation behind installing power is probably the famous liberal bias of schools in general (although universities typically take the rap). Teachers and administrators eager to be "green" likely push for solar energy plans, and spend the extra time needed to figure out how to pull them off.

But schools alone won't provide a huge bump to the solar market -- or will they? Based on their power needs alone, probably not. But these institutions are putting renewable energy in front of a new generation, making solar panels as common a sight as the school itself. And they don't just stop at erecting a few banks of solar cells; they're also educating their students on the whys and wherefores of solar power. Down the road, that built-in familiarity will certainly play to the solar industry's advantage.