Kirkwood students installing photovoltaic solar panels on Jones Hall

CEDAR RAPIDS -- The front of Jones Hall at Kirkwood Community College will soon provide more than an entrance for students to pursue higher learning.

Students in the college's energy production and distribution technologies program are installing a 4.8 kilowatt photovoltaic solar array. The panels, which will stretch across the face of a lower section of the building, will generate electricity and provide training opportunities on systems manufactured by two different suppliers.

The solar array is part of an overall facility that includes state-of-the-art equipment used to train students enrolled in the college's two-year solar and wind turbine energy training program. Thirty-nine students are enrolled with college officials receiving almost weekly inquiries from potential employers.

A report by the Solar Foundation and BW Research Partnership's Green LMI division forecasts the hiring of more than 13,000 photovoltaic solar array installers over the next year in the United States.

In Iowa, a March 2011 report by the Iowa Policy Project in Iowa City projected more than 2,500 jobs would be created if the state enacted incentives promoting the development and installation of 300 megawatts of solar energy over a five-year period.

The installation of the photovoltaic solar array follows the installation of a $5.2 million, 2.5-megawatt Clipper Windpower wind turbine north of Jones Hall earlier this year.

The solar array and wind turbine, combined with the use of geothermal heating and cooling in many campus buildings, are expected to reduce Kirkwood's electricity consumption by as much as $300,000 annually.