The video above shows Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, New York, a college prep school with grades 6-12.
The 22 buildings on campus include four dormitories, a dining hall, library, gym, theater, music and photo labs and more.
Oakwood Friends joins a growing number of schools, like SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College, turning to solar power to reduce their use of fossil fuel.
In Oakwood Friend’s case, this two-acre solar array will provide 100 percent of the power needed for their entire campus.
There are 2,275 solar panels designed to produce nearly 700,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.
Clearing the site, installing the solar panels and making the electrical inter-connections only took about a month but the total project timeline with zoning and permitting from initial design to completion of construction took about a year and a half.
Funding for the $1.8 million project came from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), federal tax incentives and a power purchase agreement with Solar City, a solar energy company that provides ongoing maintenance and support.
The estimated savings over the life of the 20-year agreement is between $500,000 and $1.5-million.
In addition to providing renewable energy, the array will be used as an educational tool for the students and eventually the community with a web-based interface where people can log in and monitor the generation of electricity.