Sun Power Starts Flowing at Middle School

The skies were gray but that didn’t prevent dignitaries from flipping a switch Friday and firing up Orange County’s first official solar-powered neighborhood school.

Several months in the making, the outdoor lunch shelter with roof-mounted solar modules will provide about one-twelfth of Alamitos Middle School’s energy needs--on a sunny day.

Besides being practical, the $140,000, 46-by-49-foot shelter will help raise awareness about alternative energy sources, according to officials with the Garden Grove Unified School District and Edison Technology Solutions.

Funding for much of the structure, which generates 10 kilowatts, came from U.S. Department of Energy grants.

The shelter is large enough to cover 26 lunch tables for about 300 students, while protecting them from “the dreaded divebombing sea gulls,” Principal Kent Baird said.

The structure includes 168 photovoltaic panels, which harvest solar energy by converting sunlight into electricity.

The power produced is enough to continuously supply the electrical needs of five households.

The shelter is quiet, has no emissions and is without moving parts.

“We’re very proud as a school district to be partners in this, and it’s a great tie-in to our science program,” Supt. Ron Walter said.

In conjunction with the new solar shelter, science teachers held a voluntary solar science project competition.

Winning entries included a Super Solar Radiation Concentrator, which can roast marshmallows with the sun’s power.