Sun Shines on Amerman Elementary's Solar Panels

Northville's Amerman Elementary School celebrated its new 2.7-kilowatt solar array, a system of several solar panels, with a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday.

Amerman Elementary is already an "Evergreen School," the highest ranking in Michigan’s Green Schools program. Bruce Ricketts' last class before he retired decided that they wanted their school to be greener.

They spent a year researching and raising funds for the solar array. One way the fourth grade students raised money was by their "Shave or Save" campaign where people donated money to either have Ricketts shave off or keep his long beard. 

The students raised around $10,000 for the solar array. They also raised about $3,500 for a wind turbine, which will be installed in the next few weeks. 

NOVA Consultants, Inc., an engineering and environmental services firm in Novi, helped the students get the solar array with the help of Solar World, which manufactured the panels. Representatives from the companies congratulated the students on their green efforts at Wednesday's ceremony.

>>Watch a video of the ceremony above. 

The solar array was developed through SolarWorld’s Solar2Schools program, which promotes solar-energy education by providing discounted solar installations to schools across the country. 

The Solar2Schools package includes a SolarWorld Suntrol® monitoring system in the school’s lobby, providing a real-time data report of the system’s energy production. The solar array, mounted on a free-standing canopy in the schoolyard, was engineered and constructed by NOVA Consultants. Duo-Gard of Canton, fabricated and installed the canopy structure. McNaughton-McKay Electric Co., a wholesale electrical distributor headquartered in Madison Heights, coordinated the project and recruited local businesses to support the effort.