Pacific Gas & Electric announces grant that will allow students to build 100 portable solar units
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) recently announced a $400,000 grant that will allow more than 2,000 students in central and northern California to participate in the Solar Suitcase program, which allows them to build portable solar units and provide solar power to energy-scarce regions.
“PG&E Solar Suitcase students have the opportunity to explore and learn about key renewable energy sources in a way that is both educational and meaningful,” Ananda Baron, senior director of Community Relations, said. “Not only do students learn interactively about STEM concepts, but they also make significant impacts locally and globally by providing entire communities with easy access to clean energy.”
We Share Solar will supply the small, portable photovoltaic lighting systems, which are powerful enough to illuminate a classroom. Teachers will be trained to teach students about solar electric systems.
Students will assemble the Solar Suitcase kits and have the opportunity to submit videos of their local sustainability projects to a contest. Several schools and organizations will be to send two student representatives and a teacher to distribute solar suitcases to schools and community-based organizations in rural Ecuador with the nonprofit WE Charity.
Additional suitcases will be sent to Kenya and other regions around the world.
Since the PG&E Solar Suitcase program began in 2015, it has trained and supported 37 teachers in northern and central California, taught 2,015 Californian students about renewable energy, and delivered clean energy to 15,000 Kenyan students.
