The 2.0kw system will generate electricity for use by the fire company and any excess electricity not used, will be sold back to the electric utility, Med Ed, at the same rate paid by the fire company.
The two-day session included installation of the roof mounting racks and photovoltaic panels, and an inverter to convert the electricity to the utility’s voltage and waveform. The system is intertied into a three-phase, 208 volt, 400 amp, electrical service.
The class was taught by master electrician and community college instructor Jenny Eigenberger. Eigenberger has been a speaker at the PA Renewable Energy & Sustainable Living Festival and is a renewable energy and electrician apprentice instructor at Lakeshore Technical College in Wisconsin.
The system, valued at $18,000, was donated through a partnership of MAREA and local and state government groups as a community service and educational project. A Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development grant of $5,000 through the office of Rep. David Argall (R-124) helped defray part of the equipment purchase, as did the Albany Township Board of Supervisors, who applied towards the equipment purchase the $3,200 entertainment tax from last year’s Pennsylvania Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Festival at the Kempton Fairgrounds.