Melbourne Grammar’s much-anticipated solar panels are up and running in four long rows on the roof of the Nigel Peck Centre.

The array is the culmination of hard work and dedicated lobbying by student members of the School’s SLIC (Sustainable Lifestyle Improvement Committee) who saw that carbon dioxide produced in supplying electricity to the air-conditioned Peck Centre for Learning and Leadership could be offset by trapping the sunshine.  

School Property Manager John Phillips took up the challenge of applying to the Federal Government to subsidise the panels through the National Solar Schools Program, allowing funds raised by SLIC from MGS Live and other events to go to other SLIC initiatives.

The electricity generated by the panels is fed directly back into the NPCLL and can be tracked online. For details of the system and to observe the power generation figures go to: http://www.sunnyportal.com/Templates/PublicPageOverview.aspx?plant=304b12c7-04b5-47fe-8899-17219cab9f05&splang=en-US .

This data can be fed down into the display screens positioned in the Peck Centre and analysed by students in Science and Technology and other classes in Wadhurst and Senior School. The panels complement those already established at Grimwade under the same Federal Government Scheme.

Under optimal solar conditions the combined Peck Centre panels have a 12.6-kilowatt peak. Projections based on the kilowatt peak have the solar panels generating around 11,000 kilowatt hours a year.