The majority of installations have been completed; 14 more are on track to be finished by the end of the year. The latest phase of the project will bring the total number of schools with solar arrays to 104, generating 22.5 megawatts of energy.
“These installations will dramatically reduce energy costs and improve air quality and lower each school’s carbon footprint,” said Louis Molina, commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services at P.S. 58 in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, where officials cut the ribbon on the panels.
With the addition of the 72 schools, Molina said the city is on track to install 100 megawatts of solar energy on city-owned property by 2030, and 150 megawatts by 2035, as required by an existing city law that was expanded in October.
“I’m thrilled to announce that with the completion of this project, we are over 40 percent of the way there,” Molina said.
More than half of the newly outfitted schools are in neighborhoods classified as disadvantaged, and selected based on the feasibility of the project and the various conditions of school roofs, officials said.
The project was funded through a power purchase agreement with a San Francisco-based investment firm focused on sustainable infrastructure, Generate Capital. As part of the agreement, Generate Capital is responsible for the costs of installation, operation and maintenance, while DCAS agreed to buy an estimated $85 million worth of solar power from the panels over the next two decades.
“Across the city, here at 58 and in other places, our solar installations are part of how our students are learning about how to be climate leaders in the future,” said Emma Vadehra, deputy chancellor of the city’s public schools.
The Green Squad, a student club at P.S. 58 that meets once a month during lunch or recess, joined city officials for the announcement — excited about the solar panels and hoping to inspire more adults to help protect the earth.
“I feel like adults could have done way more because they’ve been around for longer than us,” said Felix, a fifth grader at P.S. 58. “They’ve seen where we live evolve. They’ve seen people doing good things and people doing bad things, and they know what is going on.”
“Sometimes I feel like adults just like, say, ‘oh, yeah, climate change’ — and then just dismiss it, and they don’t really think about it,” he said. “And I feel like that’s a big problem, because adults can make a difference. They just don’t think about it. And I think that if more kids learn about it, when they become adults, they can actually do something about it.”
Vivienne, another fifth grader, said beyond the solar panels, she and the club have been making posters for the cafeteria to teach their classmates how to recycle.
“Being on the Green Team means you have to be raising awareness for our earth being in trouble,” she said. “There’s nowhere else we can go. So we got to take care of what we have, because we don’t have something to replace it.”
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