PA Environment Digest Blog: DCED Awards $22.6 Million To 74 Schools To Help Schools Lower Electricity Costs, Create Jobs Under Solar For Schools Program

On May 20, Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Rick Siger announced an investment of more than $22.6 million in 74 schools across Pennsylvania through the Solar for Schools Grant Program, which is administered by DCED and funded through the Commonwealth Financing Authority.

Program grants will help schools to cover the purchase and installation of equipment, permit fees, energy storage, and utility interconnection.

The Solar for Schools program builds on Governor Josh Shapiro’s energy plan by generating more clean, affordable, and reliable energy while creating more jobs and lowering costs for Pennsylvanians.

Governor Shapiro’s bipartisan 2024-2025 enacted budget allocated $25 million for Solar for Schools grants, which can save our schools hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

The Governor is calling for another $25 million allocation in his 2025-2026 budget proposal to ensure the program continues.

“Energy is one of the top expenses for schools, which is why investments in solar energy can help to maintain long-term financial stability and improve the quality of education they offer students,” said Secretary Siger. “Those savings can then be channeled into more resources for our teachers and students, and also create good-paying clean-energy jobs and job training opportunities.”

School districts, intermediate units, area career and technical schools, charter schools, cyber charter schools, chartered schools for the education of the deaf or blind, community colleges, The Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, and The Pennsylvania College of Technology were eligible to apply for the grants.

“Schools across Pennsylvania face tight budgets, and energy costs are one additional expense among a myriad of others,” said Acting Secretary of Education Dr. Carrie Rowe. “The Solar for Schools program helps ease that burden, allowing school leaders to reinvest savings directly into student learning, teacher support, and school resources. At the same time, these projects turn school buildings into living laboratories where students gain real-world experience in clean energy technology. Whether it’s through hands-on STEM education or technical training in solar installation and maintenance, this initiative prepares students for in-demand careers and helps ensure Pennsylvania’s workforce is ready to lead in the 21st Century economy.”

The full list of the 74 projects approved today, including the following investments--

-- Cambria County: $437,522 to the Cambria Heights School District to add a rooftop solar array to on the Cambria Heights Elementary School. The solar project would yield an estimated savings of $57,570 per year on utility, operations, and maintenance costs.

-- Dauphin County: $446,363 to the Steelton-Highspire School District to install high-efficiency solar panels to which are expected to produce significant reductions in energy expenses and carbon emissions, while creating local job opportunities for installation and maintenance. The project will also integrate renewable energy education into the district curriculum, providing hands-on STEM learning.

-- Erie County: $400,000 to the Erie County Technical School to help complete a solar project that reduces the net carbon impact of the school, helps achieve energy independence, and assists in the innovation of rural electrification by using renewable energy as a teaching tool for our career and technical education programs. The solar grid serves as a live, hands-on learning laboratory for students studying renewable energy, electrical systems, and green technology, while providing real-world technical training opportunities in solar installation, maintenance, and system design.

-- Luzerne County: $400,000 to the Hanover Area School District to install solar panels to the district’s high school. The district estimates the solar project will reduce its energy costs by 78 percent, reduce carbon emissions by approximately 100 metric tons annually, and serve as an educational tool for over 2,300 students to learn about renewable energy and its benefits.

-- Philadelphia County: $329,323 to the Community College of Philadelphia to install 305-kilowatt solar panel systems on two Main Campus buildings which are expected to result in a 4 per cent reduction in energy costs across all nine Main Campus buildings. The installation is also expected to result in $925,222 in savings for the College and taxpayers over the next 25 years.

Click Here for the complete list of projects.

Visit the Commonwealth Financing Authority website for more information on the CFA or its programs.

Click Here for DCED’s announcement.

(Photo: Steelton-Highspire School District solar energy installation in Dauphin County.)

Resource Links:

-- DEP: Pennsylvania Solar For Schools Toolkit

-- PA Solar Center: G.E.T. Solar Schools

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - May 17 to 23 -- Failure To Comply With Shale Well Plugging Order; 28 Months Without 3 Conventional Well Cleanups; 206 Abandoned Conventional Wells; Road Dumping Continues [PaEN]

-- Environmental Hearing Board Agrees There Is ‘Acute’ Danger In CNX Misusing A Deposition In An Appeal Before The Board To ‘Punish’ An Environmental Advocate For Her Advocacy Against CNX [PaEN]

-- Late Night Dumping II: Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Dumping Continues On Roads, This Time With Bigger Trucks; New Research On Harmful Wastewater Impacts [PaEN]

-- PA American Water Begins Construction Of Pipeline To Provide Replacement Water For Dimock Township Residents Who Had Wells Contaminated By Shale Gas Drilling 20 Years Ago In Susquehanna County [PaEN]