Schoolgen was one of the earliest adopters of solar in the country and has now installed free solar panel arrays on more than 80 schools across New Zealand. 

By 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that nearly 30 per cent of the world’s electricity demand will be met by solar generation. Battery systems, to store and balance out the peaks and troughs of solar will soon become widespread.

Coordinating solar generation and energy storage also requires clever information technology to dynamically and efficiently control the flow of energy. If these measures are put in place then an estimated six billion tonnes of carbon dioxide will be prevented from entering the atmosphere annually, giving the planet a greater likelihood of avoiding the most damaging effects of global warming.

The Schoolgen Programme (Genesis Energy’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative) believes that solar photovoltaic generation is a good match for schools with the majority of their energy demand occurring during the day. As well as saving the school money, it’s also an ideal setup to educate students about the merits of sustainable energy and energy efficiency!

“A ‘Schoolgen School’ has its own renewable energy power station on the roof (photovoltaic array), which provides an outstanding context for teachers to build a future-focused educational programme that explores and models environmental sustainability across the broad field of energy,” said Schoolgen Team Leader Maggie Twaddle. “Certainly we have so much to teach our young people so that they have the skills to tackle these big issues of the 21^st Century and beyond.”

The Schoolgen Programme provides a very valuable resource set for all teachers and students to use – from e-books and posters, to activities and competitions. See below or find out more at schoolgen.co.nz