With more than 6,200 solar panels, stretching 15 acres, Maine-Endwell is moving its school district into the future.

Sitting on a piece of land next to one of its elementary schools, a solar farm is powering the entire district.

"There were many things that this could have been looked at as using over the years, but I think this was a great use of it. So, to have this on our property and be able to help the district out, we're happy to have it. Our kids are always excited by it,” said Bill Dundon, principal of Maine Memorial Elementary.

In year one, the system generated more than $409,000 in electricity credits, which was more than the district had expected. This came as the energy bill sat at $0.

The system actually often generates even more energy than the district needs.

The millions of dollars in savings over the years has allowed Maine-Endwell to allocate funds in other areas of need.

"At the end of the day, when you look around and you see 15, 16 acres of solar panels and you recognize that it's already produced almost $1 million worth of electricity, that's not only saving our community money, but it's allowing us to then use that money that we would have spent to invest otherwise," said Superintendent Jason Van Fossen.

Sitting next to an elementary school, it also allows students to get a look into the future.

"Our whole hope was, aside from the cost savings, was that our kids would understand how electricity is created, how it can benefit society, how this is generating zero emissions. This doesn't pollute,” said Van Fossen.

The hope is that the children within the school could be the next generation of the clean energy workforce.

"One of our kids might go into something like this. They may say, ‘this is pretty neat’ and they might not have been exposed to it. And then once they learn about it, maybe that's a career that they choose," said Dundon.

Maine-Endwell was one of the first in the state to move to a completely solar energy system, and it remains one of few doing it today. But that could change.

"I have toured people from the North Country, from the Syracuse area, from western New York. They're very curious. They want to hear the whole story. They want to know why we thought of it in the first place. And then more and more school districts are starting to look into solar, whether it's on their roofs, whether it's on carports,” said Van Fossen.

The solar system generated more than 4 ½ kilowatt hours from April 2022 to March 2023. That’s more than 100% of production despite a major November storm and a shutdown of a NYSEG substation that December.

Maine-Endwell currently houses the largest solar farm in the state.