Phoenixville Area School District Goes Solar
November 2025
The Phoenixville Area School District was recently awarded $600,000 in funding through the Commonwealth's Solar for Schools program — one of three Chester County school districts to be awarded. This new program provides funding for school districts, intermediate units, charter schools, technical schools and community colleges to install solar arrays on their facilities, offsetting electricity costs and providing renewable energy. The Phoenixville Area School District will use the funds toward the installation of two solar arrays — one on the roof of the Manavon Elementary School, and two ground arrays and a rooftop array at Schuylkill Elementary School. Each solar array will be designed to offset 100% of the school's electricity use, which is anticipated to save the district over $3 million in electricity costs over the next 25 years.
These projects are part of an official district-wide strategy to transition to emissions-free electricity: the Phoenixville Area School Board recently added a goal to their energy policy to transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2035. Support for widespread solar adoption existed both in the Board and District staff, but was also championed by students. Upon learning the district had plans to build a new Hares Hill Elementary School, members of the high school's Environmental Club became interested in the project and advocated for green building design features, including solar power. Some students from the Club worked with the District's Director of Operations, Ken Gibson, to form an energy efficiency subcommittee, who advocated to the school board for solar at the new elementary school, as well as for the district to adopt a resolution supporting 100% solar by 2035.
Although the process took several years and some of the original student advocates graduated, the District's recently expanded energy policy and its focus on renewables responds to the spirit of the students' request. Additionally, the Hares Hill Elementary School, which opened at the beginning of this school year, includes a rooftop solar array that meets approximately 40% of the school's power needs. Construction included laying conduit for a future solar ground array that will be built in the next few years that will cover the remainder of the schools' electricity usage.
Although the Solar for Schools program had a successful first round of funding, its future is uncertain as the PA State Budget remains up in the air (as of this newsletter's publish date). Federal tax incentives for solar power are scheduled to end at the end of 2027. Solar projects can be a significant up-front investment, and even though solar arrays produce long-term savings, incentives help to soften the upfront budget impacts, especially for public and non-profit organizations. Solar incentives have ebbed and flowed over the past several decades, but as costs continue to come down for renewable energy and as electricity prices rise, the cost-benefit ratio of solar continues to become more favorable, incentives or not.