Palmetto Electric, Santee Cooper partner in new bright idea at TCL
By Charles Edwards
Since President Jimmy Carter put solar panels in the White House in June 1979, the concept of harnessing the sun’s rays for power has been steadily growing in the national consciousness.
Here in the Lowcountry, a trio of dynamic organizations have partnered to make solar power a reality at the Technical College of the Lowcountry.
On a sunny morning Feb. 1, representatives from TCL, Palmetto Electric Cooperative and Santee Cooper unveiled the latest in solar-powered technology: a 20-kilowatt grouping of multiple solar panels, also called an “array,” at TCL’s New River Campus. A series of nine canopies comprise the array, and each canopy points 10 solar panels skyward to capture the power of the sun.
At the unveiling, TCL President Dr. Tom Leitzel said, “TCL is honored to showcase these advances in alternative energy. It fits perfectly with the renewable energy emphasis we stress in our industrial and engineering technology curricula.”
The solar array will help train the next generation of industrial and engineering students at TCL, and will also put a feather in the cap of a university known for its dedication to the latest in technology.
The array joins several other projects throughout the state, including a 20-kilowatt array being used to research renewable energy storage solutions at the Center for Hydrogen Research in Aiken; and several 2-kilowatt arrays that have been installed at various schools throughout the state under a program called Green Power Solar Schools, which is a partnership of the state’s electric cooperatives, including Palmetto Electric and Santee Cooper.
That partnership extended to the project at TCL.
“We are proud to partner with Palmetto again today for the benefit of Technical College of the Lowcountry and all of its students,” said Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper president and chief executive officer. “This 20-kilowatt array is quite handsome, as I’m sure you’ll agree, and it provides a functional gathering space for students and others. The real beauty, though, is in the educational opportunities it affords, and the lessons we all can learn about making better use of the sun’s rays.”
G. Thomas Upshaw, Palmetto Electric president and chief executive officer, said, “Palmetto Electric is proud of the role we’ve played in bringing this 20-kilowatt solar power machine to our corner of the state. We have promoted the benefits of renewable green power for years to our customers, and our customers have clearly said they want more. I can think of no better place for this demonstration project than at Technical College of the Lowcountry, where it can be an anchor for continuing research and development into renewable energy.”
This new solar array generates two things. The first, clean energy, will be fed back into the grid and delivered to Palmetto Electric Cooperative customers. The second is less easily metered, but no less important. It will generate ideas and inspiration for the next generation of TCL students, and there’s no better renewable resource than knowledge.
