Outside the campus of Elizabethtown College sits a silicon giant. The beast is not the enemy though—it’s feet are more than 20% of the College’s energy bill. However, while many students are aware of the giant solar field in the Schreiber Quadrangle, most do not know the true purpose of the array.

In 2016, the College completed the construction of the largest solar project of a higher learning institution after receiving a $500,000 state grant. The solar field is not only intended to help cover the College’s energy bills but also to provide a place for student research. It has met the energy goal many times, but has the student research part been fully realized?

“The College owns the land but not the solar panels or the array,” engineering and physics professor Dr. Kurt DeGoede said. “We are not allowed to tinker with it, which is good, but it is connected to a power grid. We are not allowed to change or make changes.”

Community Energy is the developer, owner and operator of Elizabethtown Solar, and they provide power to corporate and institutional customers. The construction team behind the solar panels includes national solar installer Namasté Solar and Advanced Solar Industries, based in New Holland, Pa.

This spring, DeGoede will teach Sustainable Design Engineering, the only class currently using any aspect of the solar field. Each year, they travel outside the panels, which have proven beneficial to the class and the engineering program as a whole.

“On our field trip, we looked at the panels and how they were spaced, you don’t want to have a shadow on the panel,” said associate professor of engineering and physics Dr. Brenda Read-Daily. “The information on the back gives details about the power they can create. It’s great for students to go and see it and get a hands-on approach to what they’re learning.”

Read-Daily taught Sustainable Design Engineering last spring, and appreciated solar panels from an academic standpoint and a sustainable standpoint, as did DeGoede.

“I think it shows a tangible dedication to maintaining these acres of land,” DeGoede said. “I appreciate that the College took that stance, and it’s a good economic move because they’re reserving electricity costs at a certain rate in an economy of inflation.”

The energy produced by the solar field goes into the national electric grid, which powers almost everything in the United States. The amount of energy produced by Etown’s solar panel field is then deducted from the College’s energy bill. This is enough power to provide energy to 330 residential houses per year.

The exact amount of power the solar array produced last month (258.76 MWh), this year (2.44 GWh) and its lifetime (19.82 GWh) is all public information linked to DeGoede’s faculty website. Every 15 minutes, the information is updated in real time.

“We use it in class to see the history of the array,” DeGoede said. “You can use it for research and data analysis, but it’s not on a large scale.”

“The working part and tour of the facility is definitely beneficial for the students,” he continued.

There is another use for the solar field—the cross country course. The course goes around the entire field and was used to host this year’s alumni meet.

Solar panels prove that sustainable energy is possible and has many uses. In the future, the field will continue to output energy while serving as a teaching trip for engineering majors and an athletic course.