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Northern Climate Change Schools Program
How to Interconnect Your School to the Grid! About two months ago my Grade 11 biology class and I were doing a unit on alternative energy in conjunction with the Northern Climate ExChange. We started working with small photovoltaic kits bought with funding supplied by the NCE. The idea was to expose students to alternative energies. Students were excited about the chance to see how solar panels work in small practical applications. In addition, the class had the opportunity to build a working hydrogen fuel cell, which was also purchased with funding from the NCE. The CBC North television documentary on alternative energies called "POWER TRIP", and a CBC Northbeat news story about the first fuel cell in the NWT featured our students assembling and demonstrating a cell. As part of the agreement with the Northern Climate ExChange, student projects were started. It was at this time that I showed the video titled 'Turning Down The Heat' from the Climate Change Awareness and Action Kit (Pembina Institute). Following the video a classroom discussion ensued. After some time the question arose... "Is it possible for NWT residences and/or businesses with solar and or wind generating equipment to interconnect with the grid and use this generated electricity for standby, or possible sale back to the utility company?" The students wrote a letter to Peter Watt at the NWT Power Corporation. The letter read:
Peter Watt, Public Relations Officer with the NWT Power Corporation, responded:
Upon receiving this response we decided as a class that we should explore the idea of grid interconnection. The materials supplied by The Northern Climate ExChange excited my students about alternative energies and in the end we decided that our collective energies would best be spent working towards a central class project that could truly effect change. We set as our goal the establishment of a solar panel array on our school roof. This array would interconnect with the grid. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The 'Sir John Franklin Solar Initiative' proposes to be the first Grid Tied system (interconnection) established in the Northwest Territories. We propose to use proven grid interconnection technology together with a photovoltaic array as the power source. The energy from the system will be used for standby supplement power to our school and/or sale of power back to the utility company. Long term goals: Sharing of our 'Interconnection Initiative Program with other Northwest Territories schools, with the hope of using our proposed system as a model for interconnection by other northern schools. Long term monitoring will be carried out in conjunction with Northland Utilities and the Arctic Energy Alliance to ascertain the viability and cost effectiveness of 'Grid Tie-In Systems' in the Northwest Territories. Educational goals: Emphasis will be placed on student involvement and hands on leaning related to long-term project analysis. The present initiative overlaps with the current school curricula addressing alternative energies and global climate change. Community education addressing alternative energies will be aggressively targeted. Community Outreach and Educational objectives for the 'Sir John Franklin Solar Initiative' will be available from various websites upon project completion. These sites include the Northern Climate Change Schools Program and the Sir John Franklin High School home page. So far, the enthusiastic go ahead from our school administration, the positive NWT Power Corp response and a series of funding possibilities have followed has stirred great excitement in my students and me. FUNDING YOUR SCHOOL ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PROGRAM Fund raising does not always mean bake sales! Matching Program At our school we started with a $500 donation from our Ecology Club. We approached our science department and asked for a match of $500. We then approached school administrators for a match of $1000. We are currently at the next step of approaching the superintendent of Yellowknife Education District #1 for a match of $2000. Without going to Government we have already (in theory) raised $4000. We have identified two federal funding sources for alternative energy initiatives and are currently filling out proposals. This is a summary of the RETCAP Program:
Here is the contact information for the RECAP Program:
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR PROJECT System Overview
Array Configuration
Grid Tied Anticipated Data Collection
Directly measured parameters
Computed parameters Project Objectives
Performance data for Solar Array and Inverter RESOURCES Alternative Energy Websites Books, magazines
Climate Change Awareness and Action Education Kit
The Real Goods Solar Living Source Book, The Complete Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies & Sustainable Living
Home Power: The Hands-On Journal of Home-Made Power
Technology Review, Special Issue ENERGY
Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, Volume 6, 2001
Stormy Weather- 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change Special Thanks To: David Suzuki for his words of encouragement to me when the project was emerging, and for inspiring students at the Interchange on Canadian Studies (ICS Conference) in Yellowknife April 2002. Bob Bromley (Ecology North, Yellowknife), for his support and contacts in both public and private arenas. Greg Haist, a manager from NWT Power, and Alex Love (engineer, NWT Power) for the permission to use engineered approved plans for our solar initiative. This gesture of good will saved us both large amount of time and money, without them the initiative would not see completion this school year, my students are grateful.
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