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Westlake Girls' High School is to be fitted with 30 solar panels as it tests a new programme that gives students hands-on experience with renewable energy, showing how it can help to combat global warming.
The panels will be connected to digital displays in the classrooms as well as the internet so students can watch as power is generated.
The school in Takapuna will also have access to resources such as experiments and internet-based activities, to teach students about renewable energy and climate change and its impact on the environment.
Although the power generated by the initial SchoolGen panels will have a minimal impact on the school's power usage, plans are afoot to introduce it more widely.
"We will get new buildings next year and the plans are to have a roofline so we can put solar panels in there," said principal Alison Gernhoefer. "We are committed to it, we think it's a good idea."
Ms Gernhoefer said the project would give teachers more tools to use in social studies and science.
"But probably the major benefit of this is it sets an example for young minds. I guess there aren't that many homes with solar heating, so it offers students the chance to see the possibilities it offers."
Eventually, the school hopes to generate more electricity from solar panels than it needs, so it can feed the excess back into the national grid.
The SchoolGen project was conceived by Genesis Energy with input from school resources professionals and part-funded by the Ministry for the Environment. It will roll out to 30 North Island schools in three years.
