Crews from SEM have been busy installing a 20 kW system in Gastonia this week.
The sun has been shining on the Schiele Museum lately, considering the host of big improvements on the horizon there.
And aside from the figurative rays, the Gastonia showpiece is now making use of the real sunbeams that shower its rooftop.
Workers from Southern Energy Management in Charlotte this week have been busy installing a series of solar panels on the top of the museum. They are being added as part of a solar energy project officials began pursuing last year.
The photovoltaic panes will not only generate energy to offset utility costs at the museum, but will also provide opportunities for visitors to learn about solar power. They are being paid for with a $120,000 grant that the museum received through the N.C. Energy Office, a division of the Department of Commerce.
Schiele director Ann Tippitt wrote the grant application a year and a half ago. After it was approved, engineering work was carried out from April through June to determine how to attach the 80 solar panels to the southern end of the roof, on the Garrison Boulevard side of the building. Installation will be finished soon.
“It’s gone really smoothly so far,” Tippitt said.
As part of the project, eight additional solar panels have also been mounted on top of a 20-foot pole in the parking lot. The pole has a dual-axis tracking device that allows the panels to follow the movement of the sun in two directions. It is the only pole-mounted solar array in this region of North Carolina, Tippitt said.
