St Mark’s Anglican Community School

ST MARK’S ANGLICAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL

SOLAR FARM GENERATES INTEREST

Across the summer holiday period, St Mark’s Anglican Community School installed a large array of solar panels across the roof of the Alan Cadby Senior Academic Centre in what has been described as a ‘Solar Farm’ given the extensive number of panels. The solar panels will generate approximately 20 per cent of the School’s electricity usage and at full capacity in summertime, will cover just under one third of the electrical energy capacity of the School. Over the school holidays, when the consumption of electricity at the School is minimal, St Mark’s will return electricity back to the grid. Principal Steven Davies said the St Mark’s Strategic Plan had established Stewardship and Sustainability as one of the core focus areas for 2022 and beyond. “We are keen to lead the way in environmental responsibility and sustainability so projects such as the Solar Farm have been a high priority,” he said. The new Clean Energy Council accredited system is the best on the market. The St Mark’s Solar Farm has a 100kW capacity with a 150kW inverter for future expansion. While there are no batteries due to the current exorbitant cost, when the price reduces in the future, the system is ready to be connected to the battery system. The Senior Academic Centre was chosen as the most appropriate placement of the Solar Farm because there is enough electrical infrastructure to run the system without being forced to complete a major electrical upgrade and there is room for the system to be expanded. The roof of this building is facing north and is therefore ideal for maximum energy production. Teachers at St Mark’s are looking forward to being able to involve students in a cross-curricular capacity once the monitoring system is complete. The monitoring system will enable teachers to show students how to analyse the data comparing the production of energy from the solar panels with the electrical consumption of the School.

It is a fantastic real-life example, educating students on how we can reduce our carbon footprint towards the greater global goal of sustainability.