Today's Power and local officials break ground on the solar array expected to supply 90% of the Viola School District's electricity needs.
The Viola School District Board of Education did more than going through the motions and seconds at its monthly meeting Sept. 17: It broke ground on a campus-based solar array expected to supply 90% of district electricity needs.
The 1,280-panel array, a partnership with Today’s Power Inc. of North Little Rock, will provide 480 kilowatts DC, 375 AC, and is sited near Viola Elementary School.
The single-axis tracking array will deliver the vast majority of power consumed by the 375-student district, with the remainder coming from North Arkansas Electric Cooperative. Engineering and groundwork is underway, with construction scheduled to start by the end of the year.
Viola School Superintendent John May, who issued a request for proposals for a solar energy generation system in February, said he felt a financial responsibility to bring affordable and environmentally sound power to the Fulton County district.
“ As a public-school district, we feel it is our duty and obligation to use all available resources to be fiscally responsible,” May said in a statement. “The development of a clean, renewable energy system for our campus is an outstanding example of action to that goal.”
Today’s Power President Michael Henderson said in a company news release that the project “gives Viola schools and the community a direct benefit as a resource to students to learn about the technology of renewable energy.”
Today’s Power is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc., the service utility owned by Arkansas’ 17 distribution cooperatives. It builds small utility-scale solar and storage systems for cooperatives, non-taxed entities and private companies.
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