Nelson high school shines a focus on solar energy

 With the clouds hovering over Nelson and snow on the ground it’s hard to think of sunshine, but with the help of L.V. Rogers shop teacher Dave Afford, students are shedding light on a new power project.

LVR was chosen as one of 11 schools to receive a $20,000 grant which would help them buy and install new solar panels.

Afford applied to Solar BC for the grant and the school found out this summer that they would be recipients of the money.

“The students that have become involved in the project are enthusiastic about it. They think it’s interesting,” he said.

Because it’s not safe to take entire classes on to the roof of the school to work on the project, Afford brings a few students up during his spare and after school and with the help of maintenance staff have been installing the panels.

“It will be useful for students when it’s up and operating because there will be a monitoring centre to show what each panel is producing, and how much they produce each day, so they can run experiments and see how they can increase production,” he said. “Also they can see how difficult it is to generate electricity using solar panels. Everyone thinks ‘Hey, it’s going to save the planet,’ but you’re going to need a lot of solar panels to save the planet.”

The schools who received the grant will share what they have learned about solar power with their community and other schools.

Through videos, tours, science fairs and more, the schools will help to encourage families across the province to investigate clean, renewable energy solutions in their own homes.

Afford said the solar panels at LVR will generate — on an ideal day — three kilowatts or 3,000 watts, which would provide enough power to run a computer lab and all the lighting in the lab.

“During the summer, I think we’ll be fine for sun, but during the winter we do have lake overcast, but the sun does come through the clouds that’s why it’s light outside, so we will be generating electricity in the winter months just not as much as we would in the summer,” said Afford.

There will be a total of 14 panels installed at LVR and Afford thinks that the school along with Nelson as a whole is a great place for a solar panel project.

“We’re the right sort of community to have solar panels,” he said. “The whole community is very environmentally aware. We do need to look for alternatives to generate electricity and it is of particular interest to people who can maybe buy land from the existing grid, there is a definite application there, and as you can see on the roadside signs are often illuminated with solar energy.”

Although Afford doesn’t have a background in solar panels specifically, he has a diverse background as a shop teacher and has an interest in solar energy.