While some schools fundraise to buy their own solar, Hornby High worked with Cog, which offered a 25 year behind the meter power purchase agreement for the 200kW-ish system. This meant it cost the school nothing upfront and provides discounted power from day one (but it also means that it won't get the full benefit of the solar savings).  

As Penny Devine, deputy chair of the Board of Trustees says, "we couldn't see any downsides to be honest."

COG's Chris Conner says using schools are a pretty good fit for solar given they're in use all day when the generation is happening, as are factories or commercial buildings.  

There are no batteries at the school yet, but Conner says there's a big opportunity for them to play a role in the energy system by feeding power back during evening peaks. They could also play an important resilience role in the event of a disaster by keeping the power on and acting as a community hub.

Deputy principal Ruth Robertson says the students love the solar and one student she talked to recently had included panels on a design for a home. She wonders if he would have included them if the system wasn't up on the roof and thinks it's great that it's being normalised.

It's not just about putting solar on schools, it's about getting solar into schools, as well.

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