Delhi News Bureau

The Sidney Central School District Middle School and the ONC BOCES Catskill Occupational Center in Grand Gorge are two of 50 schools statewide selected to receive $18,000 grants for solar energy systems.

On Thursday, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority announced the schools that were selected to receive funding for the installation of 2-kilowatt solar energy systems.

"This is a big, beautiful grant to put a solar array on top of the new school building that will actually convert sunlight into electricity," said Scot Lueck, a science teacher at Sidney Middle School.

"The panels will product 2-kilowatts, which is 2,000 watts, or enough electricity to run 20 100-watt light bulbs," Lueck said. "Solar power is not some thing of the future. It's usable, renewable, clean energy that is available now. It doesn't contribute to global warming and produces no gases that go into the atmosphere."

The photovoltaic panels to be installed on the schools will generate a small percentage of power for the school's facilities while giving students firsthand experience with solar energy, officials said. The $1.8 million School Power ... Naturally Program was offered to schools as part the New York Energy Smart Schools Program.

Otsego Northern Catskills Board of Cooperative Educational Services Superintendent Marie Warchol was out of the area and was not available for comment, her secretary said Friday. William Diamond, building principal, did not return calls to comment on the solar project.

Lueck said the Sidney school addition is under construction. When the panels are installed in the spring, they will be wired into the electrical grid, which will enable the power produced to be used by the school or used to reduce the school's electric bill, he said.

"People may not think we get enough sun in this area for solar panels, but we do," Lueck said. "They are completely usable. It's a workable technology."

Schools will be provided with curricular materials to help teachers incorporate lessons about solar energy and renewable energy alternatives.

Lueck said the installation also will include weather instruments. The system will be used in high school physics and middle school science classes, he said, and elementary students will learn simple weather observation lessons.

William M. Flynn, state Energy Research and Development Authority president, said the state's investments are reducing the environmental impacts of energy use and paving the way toward less dependence on foreign sources of energy.

The School Power ... Naturally Program is providing each of the 50 schools with $18,000, or 90 percent of the cost to install the systems.

AMERESCO, an energy services company, will contribute $500 per installation, leaving each school's cost at $1,500.

Lueck said the Sidney Middle School Parent Teacher Organization contributed the $1,500 local contribution to qualify for the grant.

The educational materials to support the program are being developed by the Research Foundation of the State University of New York.

The 50 projects were selected on criteria including geographical distribution and plans on how the school would incorporate the solar energy systems into instruction and community outreach.

Curricular materials will be available to all schools, and a "Solar Buddy" program will pair school districts who received awards with other schools.