Here Comes the Sun

Photovoltaic panel opens a wealth of learning opportunities

The photovoltaic (PV) panel on the WITC-Ashland campus provides students with the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to plan, install and maintain these systems, along with many other developing forms of green energy.

“One aspect is that the students are tracking the PV panel,” says WITC-Ashland instructor John Uffenbeck. “They are manually keeping track of what it is generating now. Every kilowatt that we generate is one less kilowatt of fossil fuels burned.”

Current information about the generating status of the PV panel can be found here.

The solar panel is a single-axis tracking solar array, which means the device tracks the sun on an east-west axis. The DC electricity generated by the panel is converted into AC. In essence, it offsets the campus’ overall energy usage.

“A home could conceivably generate more power than it uses,” Uffenbeck says. “You would see the dial on your meter actually turn backwards, adding energy back on the grid.”

Uffenbeck received training from Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA), an educational organization in Custer, Wis.

“Our system was part of an MREA workshop,” Uffenbeck says. “We did this system as a project and had people from all over — Detroit, Chicago, Iowa — come here to build this system and another one at a business in Washburn.”

“Students are educated to the extent that they can make a choice about their careers,” Uffenbeck says. They are learning the skill that they would need to be a PV installer, if that’s a route they choose to explore.”