SEQUIM — While Sequim High School’s students are away, they can still keep track of their own solar array — as may the rest of the world.
The sunshine harvest from panels atop Sequim High’s general education building — a photovoltaic array installed in January by Power Trip Energy of Port Townsend — is now watchable on the Web, thanks to engineering technology teacher Bill Seabolt.
As it turns out, checking solar-power generation is not unlike checking Facebook.
During this week of spring break, and any other time, anybody interested in how much the rooftop array is generating can visit www.mypvpower.com.
Click on “log in,” use “wseabolt@sequim.k12.wa.us” and the password “engtech,” and the numbers will appear for how much power has been reaped so far today, this week and this month.
At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sequim High’s panels had soaked in seven kilowatt hours of solar power, despite the showers that kept interrupting the rays all day.
Kilowatt hours mount
So far this week, the panels had harvested 20 kilowatt hours; since tracking began on March 16, they’ve brought in a total of 121 kilowatt hours.
The site also gives tomorrow’s weather forecast, a “sunlight summary” of sunrise and sunset times and indicates the day’s UV strength.
Now, these kilowatt-hour numbers aren’t spectacular, Seabolt acknowledged. Sequim hasn’t had a ton of sun lately.
But the teacher is another story. Seabolt is as ebullient as a summer afternoon, because his students are learning firsthand how solar power is generated.
“This is a great day for all of us,” Seabolt wrote in an e-mail soon after the monitoring site went online.
The way Seabolt sees it, the brave new world of renewable energy is evolving all around his pupils — and his colleagues.
‘
Making money, power’
“Yes, we are making power and money,” he noted, referring to the savings on the school’s electricity bill, and to his plans to sell solar energy to the Clallam County Public Utilities District grid.
The amount of solar energy being generated this time of year is enough to power some of the lights at Sequim High School, but it’ll be summer before there’s enough left over to sell to the PUD, said utility services adviser Mattias Jarvegren.
“It’ll depend on how aggressive the school is about shutting things off,” when few or no people are around during summer vacation, he added.
In July, for example, Jarvegren expects Sequim High’s system to generate 250 kilowatt hours of solar power.
That’s worth $10 on an average electricity bill — and enough to power 62 compact fluorescent light bulbs for a month of normal use.
Again, these aren’t huge amounts. But Seabolt, a retired Alaska state ferries diesel mechanic who believes in a future of non-fossil fuels, is in this for the education.
Those solar panels are teaching his students –and the Sequim School District — what’s possible.
Sequim’s five public campuses have abundant rooftop space for more solar arrays, Seabolt said.
Buying photovoltaic panels, however, may not be something the school district can afford. The new ones at Sequim High got there thanks to a $25,000 grant from the state.
Yet solar power is a growing concern around Clallam County, which does, after all, enjoy some long, sunny days in summertime.
The Clallam PUD now has 61 customers who are harvest and sell solar energy to the power grid.
Despite the high initial costs, and perhaps due to PUD incentives, solar arrays are gaining popularity in these parts.
Jarvegren said that in 2006, eight households put up panels, nine did so in ’07, 15 in ’08 and 14 installed systems last year.
In the first three months of 2010, seven Clallam homeowners have put up solar arrays.
“People are getting more comfortable,” Jarvegren said, “with owning their own solar generating systems.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
