The solar shade structure will generate energy and help provide a cooler spot for students on warm days.
By Tracy Correa
BAKERSFIELD – Students at Sierra Middle School welcomed a shiny new arrival to the campus on Thursday (Jan. 19) – a massive 28-by-92-foot shade structure topped off with 44 double solar panels.
The solar array is part of an increased financial commitment from PG&E to the school – one of 125 schools in PG&E’s Solar Schools Program. The 20-kilowatt shade structure was paid for with a $156,000 grant from the utility’s shareholders. The structure will help save the school about $6,000 a year on its electric bill.
The 125 California solar schools in PG&E’s program already have received a 1-kilowatt solar installation, which includes an online monitoring tool that provides real-time data so students can compare their school to others. But Sierra Middle School is the first in PG&E’s Solar Schools Program to receive the large photovoltaic installation.
Sierra Middle School student Jasmine Ruiz shows how solar beads change color in the sun. (Photo by Tracy Correa)
Sierra Middle School students celebrated the event with an outdoor Solarbration that featured interactive solar-influenced displays. Tables included solar beads that changed color when hit by the suns rays. Nearby, students painted finger nails with polish that went on clear but changed to black or purple when exposed to UV rays. And 72 pizza bagels were baked in solar ovens that the students monitored.
Eighth-grader Jasmine Ruiz, 14, pointed to the beaded bracelet on her wrist and said it’s all very simple: “The rays from the sun make the colors change.”
Sierra is a Solar Model School and teacher Bob Hodash was one of two teachers bestowed with Teacher of the Year honors within the solar program. (The other is Mary Funk of Fresno County.)
The solar shade structure is a tangible example of the school’s commitment to solar energy and allows Sierra to serve as a model, Hodash said. “The kids can look at this and can be an information source for other schools,” he said.
Bakersfield City School District Board President Bill McDougal, Kern County Supervisor Karen Goh, Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall, PG&E's Shawn Cooper and Bakersfield City School District Superintendent Ruben Arias joined Sierra Middle School students as they cut the ribbon on the new solar shade structure. (Photo by Tracy Correa)
In thanking PG&E, Hodash said: “Without your money and hard work, this would not be happening.”
Shawn Cooper, PG&E’s senior director of corporate affairs, commended the students for their commitment to learning about solar. He told them to continue working hard, reminding them that thousands of jobs will be available at PG&E very soon as half the utility’s workers are expected to retire in the next five years.
Sierra Middle School Principal Tomas Prieto thanked PG&E for its commitment to the school and for helping to make its students “stewards of this earth.”
In addition to Sierra Middle School, PG&E is funding new solar thermal swimming pool projects at San Rafael High School and Terra Linda High School in Marin County along with a 1-megawatt carport at the New Energy Academy at Venture Academy Family of Schools in Stockton.
Email Tracy Correa at tcce@pge.com.
