Human-powered cinema to raise funds for additional solar panels at school

Over 200 students from Melbourne Girls’ College in Richmond will be pedalling for up to 10 hours in groups of four on stationary bicycles to power up the school’s annual carbon-neutral, human-powered cinema to be held on 19 February 2016.

The outdoor Pedal Powered Cinema to be held at the school from 5 pm comes as the school seeks donations from students, family members and the broader community to fund an additional 67 kWh of solar power for the existing 33 kWh solar photovoltaic (PV) system designed by installer Living Energy Solutions using Enphase microinverters.

Using the detailed solar panel-level generation monitoring available on Enphase’s Enlighten platform, donors can opt for individual solar panels to be named after each sponsor. The public will be able to view all solar panels sponsored from the event through the Enlighten public system map.

This unique fundraising event has delivered a model that will allow Enphase to partner with other schools looking to install solar PV through a donor-and-panel-matching program.

Enphase will partner with Living Energy Solutions and Melbourne Girls’ College to establish a community solar program in Richmond, Victoria. Donations of solar panels and Enphase microinverters will be made to the school for solar systems purchased through the community solar program by home owners or businesses.

Operational since October, the 33 kWh solar PV system — together with grid-connected human pedal and rowing generators, a wind-turbine and micro-hydro generator — will produce up to 45% of the school’s energy needs, which is approximately 50,000 kilowatt-hours annually.

In 2015, Melbourne Girls’ College received international acclaim as a global leader in sustainability for high schools in Oceania. It received US$100,000 from the Zayed Future Energy Prize to build a curriculum-integrated renewable energy education centre.