Solar energy funds a scholarship on Salt Spring Island

Solar energy funds a scholarship on Salt Spring Island

Thursday July 6, 2017

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Gulf Islands Secondary School (GISS), located on Salt Spring Island, B.C., is not your average high school. Not only is the school home to an 84-panel solar system that is helping green Canada’s energy systems—those solar panels also help fund an annual scholarship for a GISS student pursuing post-secondary sustainable studies.

The solar project was installed on the public school’s roof by Salt Spring Community Energy Group and School District 64’s Maintenance Department in 2014, with support from Bullfrog Power and additional partners. The scholarship, launched in 2015, funds education that will help fight climate change or apprenticeships focusing on renewable energy training or system installation.

Andrew Chan, the recipient of the 2017 Solar Scholarship from the Salt Spring Community Energy Group, is a remarkable example of how one young person can make a big difference for the environment. Volunteering almost 400 hours, Andrew helped install a B.C. solar array on Pender Island’s Pender School (another renewable project that the bullfrogpowered community helped support!) as well as a geothermal system on nearby Mayne Island. He plans to study electrical engineering in university while continuing to work as an apprentice.

Congratulations, Andrew, on behalf of the bullfrogpowered community!