LANCASTER : Solar, Wind Power to Be a 1st at School

A Lancaster elementary school will become the first in the nation to obtain part of its electrical power from on-site solar panels and a wind turbine, a demonstration project that also will become part of the school’s science and math curriculum, school officials said this week.

Within several months, the Joshua Elementary School will put into operation 25 to 30 solar panels from Siemens Solar and a windmill-like turbine from SeaWest Energy, which operates a large wind turbine farm in nearby Mojave, Lancaster School District officials said.

District spokeswoman Diane Schipper said the district is looking for donations of fencing, concrete, transformers and other related materials to complete the project. Schipper said one other school in the country already is powered by solar energy, but none uses both solar and wind power.