Meridian Park School celebrates 10 years of clean energy produced by the sun

Solar panels on MP rooftop

By Maryn Wynne

Shoreline’s first public solar array has been producing clean energy from the sun for 10 years and will continue to produce energy for years to come.

The public is invited to attend the rededication ceremony. The event will be held October 24, 11 am at Meridian Park School outside the music building.

The short program will have information about the system and recognize those who made it happen.  4th graders will be in attendance along with other students; faculty, members of the public and elected officials are invited.

This solar array is at Meridian Park School on top of the music building. It is a 2.4 kilowatt system that has produced 19,100.3 Kilowatt-hours of electricity. From fossil-fueled sources, this amount of electricity would have emitted 26,740.4 lbs of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Sparked by Larry Owens, a solar-power enthusiast (and now professional) helped form the nonprofit Shoreline Solar Project as a way of organizing neighbors, public officials, community and business leaders, and renewable energy experts around his idea to create a solar energy project at his daughter's school.

Working with Seattle City Light, the installation is the Green Power Program’s largest and most powerful system located at a school.

In 2008, Solar 4R Schools installed a weather system and provided educators with activity guides, science kits, and onsite training to assist them in integrating renewable energy education into their curriculum. You can see real time output of the system at the site (http://www.solar4rschools.org/schools/meridian-park-school)

Meridian Park School is also the birthplace of NW SolarFest the region largest and longest running Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair now held each year on the last Saturday of July at Shoreline Community College.