A Virginia school district pioneers solar and battery microgrids

As climate change intensifies, communities around the country are looking for ways to better prepare for extreme weather, from ice storms to heat waves. In Roanoke, Virginia, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, that starts with the schools.

For years, the Roanoke City Public Schools district has been installing solar panels to lower electricity bills, minimize its carbon footprint, and teach students about clean tech. Now, the district is set to be the first in the state to invest in storage, with a solar-and-battery-powered microgrid at each of its two high schools, which double as official disaster shelters.

“They’ll run on the battery until such time as it’s discharged,” said Jeff Shawver, senior director of school plants for Roanoke City Public Schools. ​“Then the diesel generators are cut on. Then, the next day, the sun comes up, and you start charging the battery again. It just keeps the cycle going.”

Due to be installed by the end of the year, the storage systems will be among just a handful of batteries at school buildings around the country, according to Generation180, a national nonprofit headquartered up the interstate in Charlottesville. The dearth of sustainable microgrids at schools is problematic in the wake of natural disaster, since they account for 60% of all FEMA-designated relief shelters in Virginia and half of those nationwide.

“Schools are also the hubs where citizens vote, where groups gather, and now increasingly where neighbors need to huddle or seek shelter during emergencies,” said Tish Tablan, senior program director at the nonprofit and a former teacher. ​“So they’re just critical parts of our communities.”

The microgrid is funded partially by a grant from the state’s Department of Emergency Management and a donation from commercial solar installer Secure Solar Futures. ​“The grant has been around for a few years,” Tablan said. ​“They are the first to utilize it for a solar microgrid instead of diesel.”

The school district’s foray into batteries fits with its track record on solar. Serving some 14,000 students, the district leads the state on solar energy installations among schools, with nearly 9.4 megawatts planned for or already atop 29 rooftops and other sites.

The solar arrays are poised to cover 44% of the schools’ energy needs, cutting the school system’s electric bills by more than $22 million over 35 years. Because many installations come with new roofs, they’ll also help the district avoid $24 million in capital costs.

“We’re going to end up with most of our schools with at least a 25-year warranty on the roofs,” Shawver said. ​“For any facility manager, trust me: That’s a happy day for that person.”

The installations also enable hands-on training for teachers and students in clean energy careers and technical educaton, and help minimize its climate footprint.

“It all works in tandem,” said Claire Mitzel, communications director for Roanoke City Public Schools. ​“We want our schools to be safe. We want them to be sustainable. We want our students to have access to high-quality learning environments.”

With their vast square footage, ample flat roof space, and relatively low energy needs after the sun goes down, schools are well suited for solar arrays. But installations didn’t really take off in Virginia until this decade, when schools got the ability to buy power from third parties other than investor-owned utilities, as well as the chance to sell excess solar power back to the grid.

“That’s what makes it doable,” said Shawver, who began negotiations with utility Appalachian Power back in 2018. ​“It’s been a long journey for us.”

Today, Virginia’s K–12 schools rank 8th in the nation for solar power capacity, according to Generation180, with 83 megawatts on 236 campuses — the vast majority of installations owned by third-party companies. Nearly half the state’s solar-powered schools came online after 2020, when the solar-school-friendly policies were cemented in the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

Still, there’s plenty of room for growth — especially as electricity rates rise in the data center capital of the world. Generation180 data shows that California is far and away the national leader when it comes to solar on schools, with almost 900 megawatts. New Jersey, whose population is similar to Virginia’s, has the second-most school-solar capacity, with over 300 megawatts — three and a half times the amount in Old Dominion.

State leaders could take their cues from California, which requires all new school buildings to be equipped with solar and storage. And they could provide more funds, as Maryland, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania do, for schools to invest in solar arrays.

But even without such support, Virginia schools have a big opportunity to install more sustainable microgrids. Tablan notes that the state grant program that Roanoke is using to help pay for its storage system is taking applications now.

“They just opened up a new round of funding,” she said. ​“They have $2.5 million available for fiscal year ​’27.”