CORINTH, Miss. (WTVA) -- The words "solar power" and "north Mississippi" probably conjures up images of the Sundancer Solar Car Team, the group of students from Houston High School who won first place at the Dell-Winston Solar Car Challenge.
Many say that program has helped bring solar energy awareness to the area.
Now, schools in Alcorn County will soon be able to teach children about the green industry through a 50-kilowatt solar collection station, and Superintendent Stacy Suggs said it will provide both educational and economic incentives.
"We found out about this grant incentive that was being offered through the Mississippi Development Authority and the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide some solar panels for green energy," Suggs said. "The grand incentive: they would pay 75 percent of the cost. The district would pay the other 25 percent with a payback of six years' time."
Officials hope they'll also serve to provide students with a hands-on approach when learning about solar energy and green jobs.
"The students will be able to actually touch these and be able to learn from them," Johnson Controls account executive Cheryl Aquadro said. "There'll be a monitor inside the [Alcorn Career & Technology Center], and students from all over the county and the region will be able to see what this solar collection system is producing."
The power generated by these panels will not be used to power the school district, but will be instead sold back to Alcorn County Electric Power Association, under a program through TVA.
Aquadro says it won't cost residents anything.
"No taxpayer funds were used to fund this," Aquadro said. "The bonds are able to be paid for by the revenue that's generated from the solar panels."
Suggs said the main reason for doing it wasn't because of the extra money it would generate, but the extra knowledge students would gain and learn about solar power.
The solar collection system should start generating power sometime in August.
The district will be able to pay back its $90,000 investment in just 6 years, through revenue from the green energy.
