GRID Alternatives, in partnership with SunPower, created the Solar Futures program to provide hands-on and classroom education to K-14 students. As part of this initiative, GRID Colorado is seeking out high schools statewide to help educate youth about solar and illuminate career pathways in the solar industry.
Delta High School
Delta and Montrose Counties in Western Colorado have been hard hit by changes in the energy industry. Historically the area had multiple coal mines that were major employers for residents, these have been slowly closing and laying off employees, including one mine that closed earlier in 2016.
In the face of such changes, Delta High School has championed a unique program for its students that provides a year of solar training, and prepares them for jobs in the growing renewable energy sector. The high school’s program is in partnership with Solar Energy International (SEI), a nonprofit solar training facility located in the town of Paonia just 30 minutes from the high school. The juniors and seniors participating in the course have completed SEI’s introductory solar class, and have been able to gain some hands-on training at SEI’s “solar lab.” In the program’s first year, one student in the class has already secured a job with a local solar company that will start once he graduates.
In partnership with Delta-Montrose Electric Association, GRID Colorado will install a 151kW system that will provide clean and local solar energy to 30-50 low and moderate income households in the area. In May, GRID Workforce Development Manager Allison Moe visited the class to teach the students about our mission and the project, as well as prepare them to volunteer. Through volunteering on the DMEA project, students from the Delta High School solar training class will be able to gain hands-on experience helping to install the 151 kW system and build on their classroom training with SEI.
Compassion Road Academy Workshop
Compassion Road Academy (CRA) is a small Alternative High School within the Denver Public School system that works to ensure that the district’s most at-risk you receive their high school diploma or equivalent. On May 4, 2016 five students from CRA’s Earth Sciences class visited GRID’s office to learn more about solar and GRID’s mission and opportunities. Students, some of whom are affordable housing residents, were given a general orientation to GRID and the projects it is working on in Colorado. GRID staff then led a short workshop on solar panels and how they work. The students learned how to test the modules under various conditions of sun and shade. This helped them to understand how the design of a solar system can change how much that system produces, and how that results in environmental benefits and direct savings on utility bills for GRID families. GRID and CRA hope to make this type of learning experience available to their students in years to come.
For more information on Solar Futures in Colorado, please contact Workforce Development Manager Allison Moe at amoe@gridalternatives.org.