Distributed Energy

New Texas School Incorporates Solar Farm

Sept. 15, 2021

The state-of-the-art campus includes many features to support academic excellence as well as sustainability.

Haskett Junior High's solar farm is expected to meet approximately one-half of the school's electricity needs.

On August 18, 2021, Katy Independent School District (ISD) Superintendent Ken Gregorski, Principal David Paz, Area Superintendent Christopher Morgan and Bill and Cindy Haskett officially welcomed more than 800 students and 87 staff members to the Bill and Cindy Haskett Junior High, a state-of-the-art school named after two Katy ISD living legacies. The campus includes many features to support academic excellence as well as sustainability, including a solar farm.

“We are proud to be the first school in this area to integrate an above-ground solar farm that powers the entire campus on sunny days,” said Paz. “The solar farm will also be used as a learning tool in several classrooms, allowing students to track weather, climate and energy efficiency.”

The stand-alone junior high is projected to serve more than 1,500 students by 2025. The three-story campus building is the district’s 17th junior high school, made possible by a 2017 bond. Katy,Texas, is located just west of Houston.

About the Author

EnergyTech Staff

Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

He can be reached at [email protected].

EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.