Students Through PG&E’s Solar Suitcase Program Bring Light to 2,400 Kenyans
Students across Northern and Central California will have the opportunity to bring clean, renewable energy to communities in
Kenya through Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) Solar Suitcase Program.
PG&E has selected 19 high schools to participate in the second year of the program and provided each school with more than
$8,000 worth of equipment and professional development training in partnership with the nonprofit We Care Solar.
Sharing their commitment to environmental sustainability by developing these local projects, students will build portable solar
units and have an opportunity to deliver the Solar Suitcases to students in Kenya. Nearly 1,100 California students have been
engaged in the program, and the suitcases they built today light the living spaces of more than 2,400 Kenyan students.
“I love that PG&E’s Solar Suitcase Program combines education in clean energy with fostering a spirit of community service.
It’s about helping students act locally and think globally,” said Helen Burt, PG&E's senior vice president, External Affairs
and Public Policy.
The We Share Solar Suitcase® is a portable photovoltaic lighting system, powerful enough to illuminate a small room.
PG&E is supplying more than 100 Solar Suitcase units to the participating schools, where students and teachers will be trained
to use them by We Care Solar and will learn the basic principles of producing clean energy.
“What I am truly looking forward to with the Solar Suitcase Program is the opportunity to work with my peers on a project that
provides a solution to a problem that we are all passionate about in order to make a difference beyond our own community,” said
Christina To, a student at Pinole Valley High School.
Students will then be invited to submit videos of their own local sustainability projects. Winning schools will choose student
and teacher representatives to deliver suitcases to orphanages, schools and medical clinics in Kenya with international nonprofit,
The WE Charity. Additional suitcases will be sent to energy-poor regions around the world.
This unique global opportunity for local high school students adds a new dimension to PG&E’s commitment to education and
renewable energy.
The list of PG&E Solar Suitcase Program schools is below:
|
School Name
|
|
|
|
City
|
| North High School |
|
|
|
Bakersfield |
| Delta Vista High School |
|
|
|
Byron |
| Inspire School of Arts & Sciences |
|
|
|
Chico |
| Buchanan High School |
|
|
|
Clovis |
| Jefferson High School |
|
|
|
Daly City |
| Madera South High School |
|
|
|
Madera |
| Skyline High School |
|
|
|
Oakland |
| Oakland Technical High School |
|
|
|
Oakland |
| Sonoma Mountain & Carpe Diem High Schools |
|
|
|
Petaluma |
| Pinole Valley High School |
|
|
|
Pinole |
| Rio Americano High School |
|
|
|
Sacramento |
| Lincoln High School |
|
|
|
San Francisco |
| Independence High School |
|
|
|
San Jose |
| Seaside High School |
|
|
|
Seaside |
| Templeton High School |
|
|
|
Templeton |
| Tracy High School |
|
|
|
Tracy |
| Upper Lake High School |
|
|
|
Upper Lake |
| Winters High School |
|
|
|
Winters |
To learn more about the PG&E Solar Suitcase Program, visit http://www.pge.com/solarsuitcase.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United
States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to
nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.
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Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Hailey Wilson, 925-464-8260
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160928006529/en/