Pennsylvania Legacies #220: Solar for Schools

Josh Raulerson (00:01):

It is Friday, July 26th, 2024. This is Pennsylvania Legacies, the podcast from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. I’m Josh Raulerson. As it does every year. Pennsylvania’s recently concluded state budget process produced winners and losers. Among our policy priorities, some — including funding to fix a staffing shortfall at DEP — got the General Assembly’s blessing. Others, including new investment in trails and the popular Whole Home Repairs program, were snubbed. But one of the year’s biggest winners was a program that had something almost everyone could get behind. Solar for Schools, signed into law this week by Governor Shapiro, will provide grants for public schools to install solar power on school campuses, saving districts and taxpayers money, building clean energy capacity, and creating new learning opportunities for students. Combined with federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, Pennsylvania Solar for Schools grants will cover up to 100% of construction costs. The measure was approved overwhelmingly by both the House and Senate in the final days of budget proceedings. Its primary sponsor is Representative Elizabeth Fiedler, and she’s also our guest on this episode of Pennsylvania Legacies. Representative Fiedler, welcome. Thanks for being here.

Elizabeth Fiedler (01:18):

Thank you for having me.

Josh Raulerson (01:19):

Before we talk about Solar for Schools, can you fill me in a bit about your background and how it led you to, to this issue, to environmental issues generally and sort of, you know, where clean energy figures in how you think about representing your district?

Elizabeth Fiedler (01:34):

Of course. So before I served in the State House, I worked as a reporter, a public radio reporter, and had the chance to travel all around Philadelphia and the, and the region, talking with people about the issues that mattered most to them. And a lot of my work was focused on education. But in addition to that, questions about the environment and climate change, climate preparedness and readiness kept coming up. And they came up largely in urban settings, but not solely so it was, it has always been very clear to me that the environment is something that’s on people’s minds. And in addition to being a state representative, I’m also the mom of two young kids. They were much younger when I ran. But they’re still young and I think a lot about the world that they are inheriting. And I think a lot of the way in which people have talked, especially people in government have talked about climate and the environment in the past as though it is somehow separate from education as though it is somehow separate from job creation as though it is somehow separate from housing.

Elizabeth Fiedler (02:51):

I think it’s very clear now that none of that is really very useful when we think about how to make the huge steps that we need to on environmental issues. All of this is obviously very interconnected, and so I felt like working on environmental issues and in particular, much of my work in my first few terms was around environmental issues in schools, trying to get out asbestos, lead, other toxins, get those out of schools and instead put in all the good stuff. So put in energy efficient windows, insulation high quality ventilation, air conditioning. That was much of the work that I did in the, in the beginning of my time in the State House around environmental issues in school buildings. And then that just sort of naturally over the last two years shifted a little bit into the renewable energy field and, and that’s really how Solar for Schools was born.

Josh Raulerson (03:47):

And it, that interconnectedness is part of what makes this idea so, so great and so, I think, widely appealing. Where did this idea begin? Was it something you came up with or was it something you saw out there in the world and decided to bring to Pennsylvania? What, what was the opportunity that you saw?

Elizabeth Fiedler (04:01):

Yes. So as I mentioned, much of my work in the first few terms was focused on school buildings and trying to create healthy school buildings that were also energy efficient. I still care very deeply about that, and I think we’ve made some progress on the school buildings piece. Have a long way to go, but have made some progress. About a year and a half ago we started, my team and I started to think about that issue as a focus of our work, which we’ll continue, but we also wanted to find a way to bring together some of the stakeholders, some of the partners who I’ve grown close to try to bring them together and find a project that we could work on that would make sense for Pennsylvania. And that’s really where Solar for Schools came from. Obviously, lawmakers in D.C. have over the years been hard at work on passing pieces of legislation, including the IRA, which offers a tremendous amount of money to states if only states can find ways to bring back those federal dollars.

Elizabeth Fiedler (05:02):

And of course, we call them federal dollars, but they are taxpayer dollars. They are the dollars of the people I represent and my colleagues across Pennsylvania. So we wanted to bring back those dollars that are in D.C., bring them to Pennsylvania, and find a way to have them invested in my community here in South Philly, out west in Allegheny, and everywhere across the Commonwealth. And one of the best ways that we could think of to do that was via schools. Obviously education is at the heart of our Commonwealth success. It’s very important to me, as I said, as a mom of a nine and a 7-year-old, that we have strong schools and many of our schools are struggling, struggling financially under tremendous financial burdens. And so we tried to think really creatively, how could we give school districts a tool to be able to save money that they could invest back into their school as they see fit? So those dollars could go back into facilities, could go into hiring more staff, what whatever the best fit really was for that school. And the federal dollars really offered tremendous opportunity to do that. And they work really well with the program that we created, Solar for Schools, because the federal money will cover 30 to 50% of every solar project. So that means we would be bringing back a tremendous amount of that federal money to Pennsylvania and putting it in the hands of school districts across the Commonwealth.

Josh Raulerson (06:31):

Who were some of the partners that you mentioned a minute ago and how did that group sort of coalesce?

Elizabeth Fiedler (06:36):

Yeah, so we had a really strong stakeholder coalition for Solar for schools that I am incredibly proud of at its heart. The stakeholders included education, so the AFT, the American Federation of Teachers, and Labor and Environment, so the blue and the green. So for labor, we had the building trades as well as a number of specific trades and for the environment right at the helm. We had Conservation voters and Sierra Club as we worked over the last year and a half, we were fortunate enough to bring on a lot more stakeholders in that coalition. A lot of environmental groups, education groups, faith groups, groups of school boards and school districts as well as a number of additional labor unions. So it’s really been a living, breathing coalition that has grown and that has been incredibly active in this last year and a half in a really beautiful and very fun way. We’ve had the chance to travel across the state and in many cases been joined by partners from that stakeholder coalition. And yeah, I feel like we’re just getting started. It’s been, it’s been a really great experience so far.

Josh Raulerson (07:43):

So you mentioned that the IRA funding was part of the impetus for your bill, and I’m wondering if that same opportunity, I mean, I assume it exists in the other 49 states. Do you know if other states have taken similar steps? Maybe some are further along this road than we are. What have you learned from looking at the national picture?

Elizabeth Fiedler (08:00):

Sure. So the idea for Solar for Schools, part of the idea came from a program that exists in Minnesota and Minnesota has actually been quite successful in partnering with school districts and specifically on solar and, and, and an approach to solar. They have almost a hundred schools that have solar now as the result of a Solar for Schools program in Minnesota. So there are some schools that have been very forward thinking when we think about solar and renewable energy and really seeing what has happened from a distance there has been impressive and, and really did give us the motivation to think, okay, this is something that we could really make happen in a state like Pennsylvania that is very deeply intertwined with the history of energy. And so really emphasizing that and focusing on ways to capture energy and use the energy that we have felt like a really good natural fit.

Josh Raulerson (08:57):

I know that getting into the General Assembly, it, it probably didn’t come as a surprise to you that it can be, it can be really tough sledding, it can be very contentious and combative. Some might say, you know, stronger words than that. But that just makes it all the more remarkable that you were able to marshal the broad base of bipartisan support for this bill. Did that surprise you at all? Why do you think it was so popular?

Elizabeth Fiedler (09:20):

Did it surprise me? I don’t know. It was, it was a pleasant surprise. We worked really, really hard. I worked really hard and, and all of the stakeholders I mentioned worked incredibly hard of the last year and a half. We toured many schools across the Commonwealth, schools that already have solar, that handful of schools in Pennsylvania that already have solar in many cases, they were able to install it because of a previous government program that helped them make it possible. We know that school districts and superintendents are dealing with a lot, and at the heart of their mission absolutely has to be education. And so the idea of taking on an additional capital project to install solar panels might not be at the top of their list as much as they might love for it to be. So you know, the superintendents and school boards school board members that we’ve talked to across the commonwealth have all been extremely excited.

Elizabeth Fiedler (10:18):

And that includes people who already have solar, like Midd-West and Steelton-Highspire, which I think are tremendous examples of what is possible. Steelton generates over a hundred percent of their electricity, and they do it via a solar array that’s on an old landfill. And now they can use that solar array to power their electric buses. I mean, that talk about thinking creatively and outside the box and using what you have. And Midd-West is a school that we got to visit. We visited Midd-West and also Cumberland Valley, and they have between those two schools and some of the other ones we visited have found totally different, but also really creative ways to make the solar part of fit into the culture there and fit into their educational component. So they’ve taught the students about physics and thermodynamics. They’ve part partnered with the Future Farmers of America program so that the animals can graze there.

Elizabeth Fiedler (11:17):

I mean, just finding all these really interesting stories has been really rewarding and also motivational to know that something like this can be valuable in places that look and feel so different. And yet programs like this are able to be successful. So we visited a handful of schools that already have solar and then most of the sites that we visited do not have solar, but would very much like to, for the financial benefits, the environmental benefits, and absolutely the job creation benefits. And so, you know, those schools that we visited are really all across the map when it comes to urban and rural and suburban, Democrat, Republican, all over the board. And so the support that we were able to build has really been resounding and really in awesome way because I think we’ve had the chance to be on the ground and talk with people who are making, who have to make really hard financial decisions.

Elizabeth Fiedler (12:14):

I remember most clearly a trip that we went to out in Indiana County and the school officials there were, at Homer-Center, were talking about the really difficult financial decisions that have to be made at a school that they love, where they’re deeply invested, multiple generations of their families in many cases are deeply invested in this school. But the closure of the coal-fired power plant has had a real impact on the community and certainly on the, the job, you know, the, the economic portion of the community, but really on the community right down to its heart, including the school when it comes to tax base, when it comes to students and numbers, enrollment, teacher recruitment. So all those pieces that fit together. And it’s really, I think we’ve done a good job working with our partners to try to crisscross the state and have been successful in building support for this program. And I’m just really grateful to my colleagues in both chambers and in both sides of the aisle who have hosted us in their districts and, and more who hopefully will as we start to spread the word about this program.

Josh Raulerson (13:16):

I love that story about Homer City and the way, you know, it kind of comes full circle. You were talking about all the great opportunities to get at so many different kinds of educational topics, but is there also a way in which Solar for Schools can help create, fortify this, like, career pipeline for people to work in clean energy? I wonder if schools are looking at, you know, developing curricula around that idea of not just creating jobs but filling them locally.

Elizabeth Fiedler (13:41):

Absolutely. And we’ve worked closely here in Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Energy Authority, which has really helped bridge that gap on, on the curriculum piece and trying to get this sort of education into schools as well as helping students realize it as a possible career path that could be a good fit for them. So yes, I absolutely think there’s a great connection to be had there. You know, the students will get to see, as the solar panels go up on the roof, they will get to hopefully have some sort of counter or other visual in, whether it’s in the lobby or in the office or online, where they can see how much energy is generated and how much money they’re saving and be able to see the process of workers in their community installing all of this. I think it’s really, yeah, it’s really, it really comes full circle and certainly working with our labor partners, whether it’s IBEW laborers, operating engineers, it’s really been it’s been cool and extremely valuable to have those folks, not just as part of the conversation, but really at the heart of this coalition and on these tours to be able to speak with superintendents when they ask questions about installation and how would this work and how would that work.

Elizabeth Fiedler (14:58):

We’re able to say, you know, to, to turn directly to people who do this exact kind of labor who are able to not just answer those questions, but make additional connections. And CTE and apprenticeship, I had the chance to visit Greater Johnstown, CTC, which I went there when they they flipped the switch the cut cord rather, on their solar array. And they were so incredibly proud of being such a leader in that front. So yes, absolutely the, the potential for growth in these fields is incredible. And anything that we could do as elected officials and people in positions of power to help connect young people now with those careers and with the training they need to get into them, I think will benefit all of us.

Josh Raulerson (15:44):

Just from a, an engineering like logistical standpoint, what is it about public schools that makes them a good opportunity for developing solar? I mean, just what, what, what makes them well suited for these kinds of projects?

Elizabeth Fiedler (15:58):

They’re already publicly owned buildings. We already have a good deal of information about their ability to host a solar array, whether that’s the electric or questions about the roof, right? That usually there is already some set of information held by the local school district about the state of the buildings, the condition of them, and certainly the appeal of having state dollars invested on publicly owned buildings to me is appealing. That’s the sort of investment that I think as a government we should be making, making it in public infrastructure. So the, I think it was for those reasons that we, we really felt like solar installation on and next to schools made a lot of sense.

Josh Raulerson (16:43):

So does that mean you’re looking at expanding the model to other public facilities?

Elizabeth Fiedler (16:46):

Yes, there are many things in the works. None of them quite public facing yet, but we do see this as hopefully the beginning of something even more exciting.

Josh Raulerson (16:57):

So, I mean, it’s, it’s not hard to see how this represents a frankly, kind of an easy cost savings for schools to realize, especially when you consider how, you know, how affordable the solar technology is becoming. But I’m curious, how are schools actually using the power they generate? Are the systems designed around meeting their needs immediately on the school campus, or are they actually generating surplus power and, and sending it back to the grid?

Elizabeth Fiedler (17:19):

So in most of the cases of schools we visited, they were focused on generating power, whether it was for one building or multiple buildings. There is a school in the Carlisle area school district, Bellaire Elementary, that they’re able to power a hundred percent through electricity through the electricity that they generate. So most of the schools that I’ve talked to, it’s been focused on powering their buildings and in some cases, as I said, with Steelton, their buses. But I do think as we see the popularity of solar increase and with the promise of these federal dollars, in addition to the, this new creation of a Solar for Schools program in Pennsylvania, I do think we will see many schools install larger arrays. And also because it will be possible to have the financial and technological ability to do it. And also some of these schools that have had arrays for a number of years that would like to add on that have seen the success and want to have a larger array, then I think we’ll start to see them be able to generate more and more power.

Josh Raulerson (18:23):

As you know, one of the kind of hairier aspects of this transition to clean energy, especially when we’re talking about electrifying as much as we possibly can, obviously, you know, that puts a demand on the grid and there’s concern about, you know, how, how are we going to be able to meet that demand? We can bring all of the solar panels we want online, but if you can’t deliver it to where it needs to go, that’s a problem. It seems like this could be an interesting alternative to that scenario, right? If you can just make, make your power right where you are, you don’t have to, you know, [you can] leave the grid out of it, sort of—

Elizabeth Fiedler (18:53):

Yeah, exactly. I think that’s right. And as extreme weather events become more and more common and more and more extreme, the possibility of having a school nearby where power is generated on site through solar panels that may have a battery, so that you’re able to, you know, go there as a site in case of emergencies to charge your phone, might have a refrigerator so you can, you know, have a lunch, have dinner, be able to sleep in a comfortable setting. This idea, these ideas, as we start to think more and more about the climate catastrophes to come and the pre ever presence of extreme weather events and their impact on human beings, I think will accelerate this push even more. And that’s certainly true here, you know, in cities like Philadelphia, and I absolutely heard it as we traveled the Commonwealth, it went to places like Green County a a part of which we were in. It was very rural, and it, it is not rare for power to go out there. It is not a surprise. And so the possibility of being able to generate power through solar panels on a school that people would be able to go to and know that there was power there could have a huge impact on that community and the people who live there. So I think we’re, we’re just starting to see those sorts of things come online as people realize what’s possible.

Josh Raulerson (20:20):

And not to bury the lede here, but a big part of the ‘why’ of this is reducing fossil fuel consumption. Hopefully there will be some impact from schools adopting solar in certainly their onsite emissions. Do we have a sense of what, depending on how many schools go this route, what the impact could be in terms of lowering overall emissions in Pennsylvania?

Elizabeth Fiedler (20:41):

Hmm. I think that’s a great question. As more and more schools make the switch to solar for their electric use, I think we’ll have a better sense of that number. And certainly as more and more schools switch to electric buses, I think that the, that number will start to be really staggering. I don’t have a figure off the top of my head, but I, I do think that it’s all, it’s all part of the change that needs to happen for us to be able to do everything we can to hand the planet with livable air and livable water off to the next generation.

Josh Raulerson (21:16):

You were talking about the climate resiliency piece and, you know, battery storage. Is that something that the grants can help fund as well?

Elizabeth Fiedler (21:22):

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, I think there’s a lot of different models for schools. Midd-West, which I mentioned, in Middleburg installed their solar panels. They installed 5,000 solar panels on 10 acres that they have and they were able to reduce their electric bill, which was $420,000 their annual electric bill down to about 145. So cumulative savings over 40 years, which is a long time, but is, you know, it’s certainly a, a set of numbers that a projection that school districts look at. Their savings is expected to be about $9 million, and that’s a pretty big array. Some of the smaller ones like Stilton Highspire, which I mentioned and they just put theirs in two years ago, they’re expecting one and a half million dollars savings over 20 years. So there’s all sorts of models that I think, you know, are different fits for different places, but really has a lot of potential, whether we’re talking about a small roof set up or a larger ground mount one like potentially out in Indiana County.

Josh Raulerson (22:31):

To kind of go back to where we started, what are the lessons to be learned here in terms of how you get policy made in, you know, a contentious environment? How do you bring people together around an idea that, you know, depending on your perspective on it, there’s, there’s kind of something for everybody. How can we apply the lessons from the, the huge success of Solar for Schools in other areas?

Elizabeth Fiedler (22:50):

I’ve referred to this as a win-win-win-win,  a little bit jokingly at first, but I do think it’s true. As you said, there’s something for everyone in this, and at its heart, Solar for Schools is a program designed to save school districts money so that school districts can reinvest those dollars in their core mission of providing a high-quality education to students. And I know that all of my colleagues whether Democrat or Republican House or Senate want to see that happen for the students in their districts. They want there to be a high-quality education. So I think finding that principle and agreeing upon it right from the beginning and having that as the core mission was really important and has been really valuable. I think we’ve also worked very hard to not have this issue or policy be polarized in an unhelpful way.

Elizabeth Fiedler (23:49):

And that’s not something that I take for granted. I think that’s actually taken a tremendous amount of work to continuously say, you know, so and so may not agree about everything, but on this policy, they do agree and they’re going to stand side by side and fight for it. I think that’s amazing. I think that’s beautiful. And that’s really as a taxpayer, as a mom that’s how I would want my government to be working. So I feel incredibly proud of that. Both my parents are public school teachers and Pennsylvania, and they really instilled in me this idea that government can work and that it should work. And I know that a lot of people are very frustrated, rightfully so, by what they see as inaction and the inability of government to get very fundamental things done. And I find that very frustrating, <laugh>. But I do think this is like a really awesome shining example of what is possible. And again, you know, all credit to my colleagues, both sides to the aisle, both chambers, as well as to the, the stakeholder coalition of education, labor environment, and faith groups who have really been tenacious in the last year to get this done.

Josh Raulerson (24:56):

Well, representative Fiedler, congratulations on this, this legislative win, which is, like, the feel-good story of the year, in my opinion. Thanks, congratulations and thanks for being on Pennsylvania Legacies.

Elizabeth Fiedler (25:05):

Oh my goodness, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And I hope you’ll have me back on when we have more to report about the program.

Josh Raulerson (25:19):

Elizabeth Fiedler represents the 184th District, Philadelphia County, in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and she’s the primary sponsor of the Solar for Schools bill, which recently became law in Pennsylvania. You can find more on that legislation and many other items that we’ve been tracking at the Pennsylvania Environmental Council — lots of coverage of the budget process that recently wrapped up, including our breakdown of the final budget legislation, an analysis of carbon capture and sequestration legislation that also passed, and where that process stands going forward.

Much more on the PEC website about energy and climate, as well as our work on conservation and outdoor recreation, watershed protection and restoration, reforestation and lots more. Find us online at pecpa.org, pecpa.org, where you can listen to all past episodes of this podcast, or you can have them sent directly to your mobile device on whatever podcasting app you prefer. We release new episodes every other Friday on the website and via RSS. Hope you’ll join us for the next one. Until then, for the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, I’m Josh Raulerson and thanks for listening.