Student-made solar module will provide power during ArtPrize

An 18-foot, solar energy-producing module created by Grand Valley State University students will be on display during ArtPrize. Students will demonstrate the benefits of solar energy by powering LED lights, playing music and providing a space for event goers to charge their phones.

Thanks to a $55,000 grant from Consumers Energy, students and faculty members spent the summer designing and building two transportable, solar energy-producing modules. The structures were designed and constructed by a team of students from the School of Engineering and a team from Grand Valley's Muskegon Innovation Hub.

The engineering team's module is be set up near the Blue Bridge and the Eberhard Center on Grand Valley's Pew Grand Rapids Campus from September 21-October 9. Eight solar panels and a collection of solar shingles make up the portable system. The unit, which took two months to build, has the capacity to emit four kilowatts of electricity. Music will be played that was performed by Grand Valley's award-winning New Music Ensemble.

Students in a sustainability course, led by Kelly Parker, professor and director of Environmental Studies, are organizing the display as part of a class project. Their assignment was to think of a way to promote the benefits of solar energy. The website is gvsu.edu/ens/solargarden/.

"We hope to give people a first-hand experience of the power of solar energy. We decided to time the display during ArtPrize so we could reach as many people as possible," said Cara Maney, a geography major.

Engineering team captain Alec Nichols, a mechanical engineering alumnus, said the modules travel to different sites in West Michigan to demonstrate the technology and collect data, which is made available on a public website: egr.gvsu.edu/~esm/.

The engineering group included Nichols, Tyler Roelfsema, William Neuson, Benjamin Stenberg and John Wilks. Affiliate faculty member Terry Stevens served as their advisor. The second solar energy module was built by Energy Partners, a tenant at the Muskegon Innovation Hub.

Consumers Energy's solar power plant on the Allendale Campus will continue to serve as an extension of the classroom at Grand Valley. Consumers Energy will provide a $20,000 grant each year for the next six years for proposed interdisciplinary projects and curriculum. Read more in the summer issue of Grand Valley Magazine.