Wolmer’s Group of Schools reaps big savings from solar panels
Published:Friday | November 22, 2024 | 12:07 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
The Wolmer’s Trust Group of Schools is reaping significant benefits from the installation of solar panels across its three campuses, which has generated annual savings of $16 million.
The savings realised are being reinvested to make the Wolmer’s Preparatory School, Wolmer’s Trust High School For Boys, and Wolmer’s Trust High School for Girls the “premier science and technology schools in the world”, with targeted funding in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. This includes investments in Wi-Fi, Internet access, science labs, and high-quality teaching methodologies.
The system includes 954 solar panels on rooftops across the boys, girls, and prep schools’ roofs, reducing their reliance on the Jamaica Public Service’s (JPS) system substantially. Excess solar electricity generated is sold back to the JPS, producing additional income.
To further save on electricity, 907 LED lights and 60 variable speed air-conditioning units were installed to replace older, less efficient lights and AC units.
Chair of Wolmer’s Trust Infrastructure Committee, Douglas Orane, said the project, which is the brainchild of Wolmer’s alumni Lloyd Carney, was commissioned in 2020 at a cost of US$445,000.
MONETARY CONTRIBUTIONS
Carney, a Silicon Valley engineer and technology entrepreneur, contributed US$323,000 to the initiative, with additional support from other alumni and friends of the school.
“The Jamaican diaspora is so interested and committed to improving our education system, and they have demonstrated it by the size of their donations, and Lloyd is a prime example of that,” Orane stated.
He also urged more individuals in the diaspora to contribute to the development of Jamaica’s education sector.
The principals of each school will decide the priority for funding, Orane stated, which may range from equipment to additional training.
He shared that every lab at the Wolmer’s Boys’ School will be equipped with smart screens, the Wolmer’s Preparatory School will be setting up a science lab, and the Girls’ School will be channelling the funds into teaching methodologies for teaching science and technology.
“It’s not only about equipment. It is also about training teachers in how to teach. The world has changed. The way science and technology is taught now it crosses over every subject,” he said.
Recently, The University of Technology, Jamaica, of which Carney is the third chancellor, announced plans to transition fully to solar energy to reduce its monthly electricity bill of approximately $15 million.
Carney believes that other institutions across the island should also be looking to make the transition.
“We are happy to share with all other schools how we have done it because if we did that, we would be saving hundreds of millions of dollars every year, which will be coming from the infinite source of the sun for the benefit of our children,” he said.
He noted that the solar system requires biannual maintenance, which is carried out through a contract with the original suppliers, as well as by past students currently pursuing relevant degree programmes at tertiary institutions, who are hired as interns.
Meanwhile, principal of Wolmer’s Boys’ School, Dwight Pennycooke, lauded the benefits of the initiative and described it as a valuable aid to provide a world-class quality educational experience for its students.
But he stated that just before it was commissioned, there was a shift in the Ministry of Education’s policy, where it now pays directly to the Jamaica Public Service for electricity usage in schools, and as a result, Wolmer’s subvention was reduced.
“That really threw a spanner in the works, and so we really have not garnered the true benefit that we could have when the project was initially conceptualised,” he said.