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Aiken Electric Cooperative, Santee Cooper and Aiken County Schools Dedicate Green Power Solar School

Submitted by: John Warner on Sep 02, 2007 at 1:44 am Tagged with: Next Energy Source:

NEW ELLENTON, S.C.— Aiken Electric Cooperative, Santee Cooper, and the Aiken County School District dedicated South Carolina’s second Green Power Solar School today at New Ellenton Middle School.

The three organizations dedicated the educational and environmental program amid students, colorful balloons and refreshments. The 10 ft. by 12 ft. solar panel, located on the school grounds, is already making electricity using the rays of the bright sunshine. The program is designed to encourage interest in the environment and demonstrate the feasibility and limitations of renewable power generation. Santee Cooper has installed a 2 kilowatt solar power system at New Ellenton Middle School which will provide a teaching, research and hands-on demonstration opportunity for the 6th grade students there. A focus of the project is the use of a new renewable energy curriculum that meets South Carolina Department of Education science standards. The school was provided with an Internet based monitoring system that provides real-time access to information regarding the system’s performance from any Internet-enabled computer.

“The Green Power Solar School program is an innovative educational tool to generate interest and understanding in renewable energy among sixth graders,” said Gary Stooksbury, chief executive officer of Aiken Electric Cooperative. “We’re very proud to be a part of it.”

"Today is the beginning of a dynamic educational project that I know will make a difference in our students’ future and our state’s energy future,” said Lonnie Carter, president and chief executive officer of Santee Cooper. “I thank Aiken Electric Cooperative and Aiken County School District for their environmental leadership and partnership.”

The program continues the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina’s and Santee Cooper’s efforts to promote renewable energy, and fulfill Santee Cooper’s commitment to reinvest Green Power funds back into renewable resources across South Carolina.

The first five schools to receive the solar installations will be in areas served by Aiken Electric Cooperative, Berkeley Electric Cooperative, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative and Laurens Electric Cooperative, in addition to the first one in Palmetto Electric Cooperative’s service area. “Exposing our young people to the latest energy technology is critical to ensure the quality of life for us today and for the future. We are proud to be a part of this exciting project and look forward to seeing the impact it will have on students, teachers and the community,” said Dr. Christine Sanders, chairperson of Aiken County School Board.

In September 2001, Santee Cooper became the first electric utility in the state to generate and offer Green Power to its customers from methane gas collected at the Horry County Solid Waste Authority Landfill near Conway. Since then, two additional landfills in Lee and Richland counties have opened, as has the 16 kilowatt solar installation at Coastal Carolina University. Santee Cooper has just signed a contract for a Georgetown County landfill project. Of the 20 electric cooperatives, 19 offer the Green Power program to their respective member-owners.

Aiken Electric, a Touchstone Energy® Cooperative, is a member-owned, non-profit electric utility serving approximately 43,000 consumers in Aiken, Barnwell, Calhoun, Edgefield, Greenwood, Lexington, McCormick, Orangeburg and Saluda counties. Touchstone Energy is an alliance of local, consumer-owned electric utilities around the country committed to providing superior customer service at affordable rates to all customers, large and small. Today, Touchstone Energy is comprised of more than 637 cooperatives in 46 states, representing the largest utility network in the country. More information is available at www.aikenco-op.org.

Santee Cooper is South Carolina's state-owned electric and water utility and serves more than 160,000 residential and commercial customers in Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry counties. The utility also generates the power distributed by the state's 20 electric cooperatives to more than 685,000 customers in all 46 counties. All total, more than 2 million South Carolinians receive their power directly or indirectly from Santee Cooper.

For more information, visit www.santeecooper.com
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