Brigidine College power their learning through solar
Students at Brigidine College in Randwick are celebrating the installation of 208 solar panels (56kW) on the roof of the school’s buildings to help power their learning, thanks to a Council-led program, Solar My School. The Catholic College is the first school in the Randwick area to take advantage of the free support offered by the program.
Jointly run by Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra Councils in the Eastern Suburbs, Sydney, Solar my School helps make it easy for schools to go solar and access local, green energy by providing free support from start to finish.
“I’m always so impressed by young people and their enthusiasm for powering change,” said Randwick Mayor Lindsay Shurey. “When I see students adopting new and innovative ways to combat carbon emissions and reduce reliance on fossil fuels it gives me a great deal of hope for our future.”
The Solar My School program offers a free solar feasibility report to assess the size and location of the system, as well as costs and savings. It also helps to facilitate the tender process and installation, and provides a curriculum-linked educational guide for students to learn about renewable energy.
“Without Solar my School’s assistance, we would not have had the hard facts in our hands and the clarity to make the decision to install solar,” said Brigidine teacher Richard Hainsworth.
Brigidine’s solar power system will help reduce the school’s energy bills by 30 per cent, with over $14,000 annual savings which they can divert into other valuable learning resources. By using clean energy instead of coal-fired electricity, the school will help avoid 72 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, equivalent to taking over 500 cars off the road over the system’s lifetime.
More than 35 schools are participating in the program across the Eastern Suburbs. Other local schools that will see solar power installed in coming months include Coogee, Maroubra Bay, South Sydney High and Emanuel.
“Schools are ideal sites for solar with their large roof space and high energy demand. With solar now more affordable than ever, it’s great to enable schools like Brigidine taking leadership in driving renewable energy uptake in our community”, said the 3-Council Regional Program Coordinator Anthony.
For more information, please call 9083 8023 or 1300 722 542.
Media enquiries:
Chelsea Hunter – (02) 9093 6526 or 0419 694 983 or chelsea.hunter@randwick.nsw.gov.au
Joshua Hay – 0402 351 459 or joshua.hay@randwick.nsw.gov.au