We, a group of 8th-grade students from Cyrus Peirce Middle School, are petitioning for   polycrystalline solar panels to be installed on the roof of CPS. We are petitioning the HDC, our superintendent Dr. Hallet, and Diane O’Neil Director of Facilities and Grounds of Nantucket Public Schools. We are looking to fund this project with donations from The Friends of The Nantucket Public Schools, The Schmidt Family Foundations, and other philanthropic organizations. We have reached out to the Schmidt Family Foundation and are hoping for a response and their collaboration on this project.

Adding solar panels to our roof would dramatically reduce the amount of taxpayer money going into the school’s energy bill, since there are plans to redo the CPS roofs, there will be a strong foundation for the addition of solar panels. The solar panels would be a small expense to help offset the need to build another massive underwater cable to support energy usage. Currently, Nantucket is using two underwater cables to support our growing community. If we continue ignoring our energy problem, we may need to install a third cable for $200 million to sustain Nantucket’s energy needs. In addition, solar panels would easily begin paying for themselves in a few years and would offset a large amount of the energy needed. The plan is to install solar panels on the South side of the school, for maximum efficiency. We believe that polycrystalline solar panels would be the best choice to be installed on the CPS roof as they are cheaper than the monocrystalline panels and are only slightly less efficient. According to energy.gov, solar panels typically last for 30-35 years so the solar panels wouldn’t need to be replaced often. 

The south-facing roof’s dimensions are 99.44m x 4.34m which would call for 5 rows of 59 solar panels in each row, a total of 295 solar panels. Total installation costs would be around $147,500 on average or $236,000 for a more expensive rate. On the low end, this system would produce around 73.75kW per hour, high-end would produce 118kW per hour. At 118kW per hour, the system would produce 1,416kW per day or 516,840kW per year. This would offset $87,862 per year. At 73.75kW per hour, the system would produce 885kW per day or 323,025kW per year. This would offset around $54,914 per year and would be a huge improvement to our school system. We found this information from yesenergysolutions.co.uk.

In 2021 the Nantucket High School and CPS consumed 1,429,342kWh in the financial year 2020-2021. At a rate of 17 cents per kWh, the school spent $236,957.49 over the 2021 financial year. This means that with the proposed solar installation and the wind turbine already installed, the school would consume between 732,502 and 926,317 kWh per year. This means the school's energy bill would be between $124,525.34 and $157,473.89.

 Currently, CPS is far from being net-zero in terms of energy and that needs to change. Installing solar panels on the roof of the CPS is the first step to making our schools more environmentally friendly. Please help us make this undertaking of ours a reality. All things built on Cyrus Peirce Middle School are reserved as property of the State.