Decatur, GA — This week workers with Creative Solar USA finished installing 56 solar panels on the roof of Talley Street Upper Elementary.

Executive Director of Operations Sergio Perez said funding for the project came from a matching grant provided by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. It’s not the first City Schools of Decatur school to receive panels, he said. Renfroe Middle School received 60 panels in 2018, saving the school district $15,000 per year in energy costs.

The panels produce 20-kilowatt hours and that can be expanded to 40. The panels will cut 60,000 pounds of CO2 emissions, equating to about 1,400 trees planted. The panels are estimated to produce 30,348 kilowatt-hours per year, enough to power the school’s media center and a couple of classrooms.

“Once active, the Talley Street teachers and students will have access to a live dashboard like the one used at Renfroe,” a press release from City Schools of Decatur says.

Perez said the panels are part of the school district’s ongoing efforts to power schools with clean energy.

“We’re excited about it,” he said. “We’re planning to keep going on these energy plans we have in place.”

Christopher McMahan, a project manager with Creative Solar, said his company has installed solar panels at several schools in the greater Atlanta area.

He said the panels don’t require maintenance and have a 25-year warranty.

“Once the system is installed properly it takes care of itself,” he said.

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