More than two dozen people attended a tour of the College of Menominee Nation’s solar energy facilities Monday.
The system was acquired through a $413,000 research grant from NASA in May to promote climate change literacy and prepare workers for renewable energy jobs.
Lisa Bosman, the engineering professor who wrote the grant request, said the study will provide insights into the relative effectiveness of various types of installations and help determine long-term property valuation effects of solar paneling.
It also gives CMN students an opportunity to study and evaluate solar energy and apply it to real-world situations.
During the tour, which was preceded by a lecture about the program, Bosman explained the steps of converting sunlight to electricity, including converting direct sunlight to DC electricity using 60 solar panels. The panels transmit the energy to an inverter box located inside the school, which converts it to AC current. Data collected from the inverter box provides information related to amount of electricity used within a facility at certain times.
“We are the only data collection site in northern Wisconsin,” Bosman said.
The presentation was the first in a CMN lecture series that will continue throughout the school year.
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