The projects are funded by a Teacher Innovation Grant given to Mike Prebble, a teacher at Tommy Douglas Collegiate. The grant supports the installation of two separate 10 panel ground-mounted solar energy systems at both schools.

Students from both schools worked alongside professionals from Rock Paper Sun, a Saskatchewan-based solar energy company, to help install the solar panels at each location. The project allows students to gain firsthand experience with renewable energy technology while also learning about environmental stewardship, skilled trades, and career pathways in the clean energy sector.

Prebble explained that the panels will pay for themselves after a period of time.

“These panels are going to last 15 to 20 years and so they’ll pay for themselves after a fraction of that time, and so after that were making savings and that’s the nice thing about solar in the city here is that usually what’s environmentally friendly is economically friendly as well, so it makes sense to do these kind of things.”

The two groups of students will meet at the beginning of next school year to compare experiences.