Six new schools recently joined the SolarWise® family. High schools in Chilton, Elcho and Gibraltar (Door County) will receive their solar equipment in 2009, and Preble (Green Bay), Lena and Goodman-Armstrong Creek will add theirs in 2010. All six schools will begin using the SolarWise curriculum materials immediately and can also participate in Solar Olympics.
You can use the interactive map on this page to get more information about each school's solar-electric system. Besides producing a portion of the school's electricity, each system includes data monitoring equipment that gives students and teachers the opportunity to study the system's performance in detail. Each school also receives the SolarWise for Schools renewable energy curriculum and can compete in Solar Olympics each year in May.
In 1996, three high schools were the first to become SolarWise. Green Bay East, Southern Door and Antigo each received solar-electric systems that still provide approximately 60,000 kilowatt-hours of solar electricity annually. Here is a complete list of the high schools currently participating in SolarWise, along with the year they joined the program.
Funding for the SolarWise for Schools program comes primarily from tax-deductible donations made by WPS customers to the WPS Community Foundation. Since the program began, they have contributed over $700,000. Additional funding has also been received from the Wisconsin Focus on Energy program, the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
All public and private high schools that receive retail electricity from Wisconsin Public Service are eligible to apply for the SolarWise program. Schools are selected every two years. Application materials are mailed to all eligible schools and the next mailing will occur in September 2010.