{"id":122,"date":"2026-03-25T15:25:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-uwsp-multi.pantheonsite.io\/schmeeckle-reserve\/?page_id=122"},"modified":"2026-05-27T21:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:17:07","slug":"solar-energy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/solar-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"bannerheight400 hero-bwnb bpcc blockspacebottom overlay-image-container\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/05\/header_solar.jpg)\"><div class=\"smaller-banner\"><div class=\"bannerheight400 bpcc smaller-banner-image-container site-width\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/05\/header_solar.jpg)\"><\/div><\/div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"imgforsmallscrn\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2026\/05\/header_solar.jpg\"\/><\/div><div class=\"heroNavBar blockspacebottom\"><a href=\"#details\" class=\"heroNavBarButton\"><div class=\"hh-mobile-textwidth\">Project Details <span class=\"sublabel\"><\/span><\/div><\/a><a href=\"#donors\" class=\"heroNavBarButton\"><div class=\"hh-mobile-textwidth\">Donors <span class=\"sublabel\"><\/span><\/div><\/a><a href=\"#energy\" class=\"heroNavBarButton\"><div class=\"hh-mobile-textwidth\">View Energy Production <span class=\"sublabel\"><\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>From 2019 to 2023, three solar panel arrays were installed on the north side of the Schmeeckle parking lot, largely supported by the UWSP student-led Green Fund.  The panels produce enough electricity to offset about 75% of the visitor center&#8217;s annual energy use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Level 2 <strong>EV charging station<\/strong> is also available for free on a first-come, first-served basis when the parking lot is open (6 a.m. to 11 p.m.). Two cars can be charged at a time. No overnight parking is allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"details\">Project Details<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of Schmeeckle&#8217;s sustainability initiatives, a 6.1 kW solar panel array was installed in November 2019 with major support from the UWSP Green Fund, a student-led initiative that supports sustainability projects on campus. Due to the success of the first array, an additional 7.2 kW array was installed in March 2023 and a 7.3 kW array was installed in December 2023, creating a 20.6 kW system. Power produced by the solar arrays feed directly into the Wisconsin Public Service electrical grid.&nbsp;The total system produces about 26,000 kWh of electricity annually, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 20.3 tons per year,&nbsp;the equivalent of&nbsp;a 22-acre forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"donors\">Project Donors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The UWSP Green Fund was the primary funder of this project, providing&nbsp;$76,000 in support. Additional community donors include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northwindre.com\/\">Northwind Solar<\/a> (donated the EV charging station), the <a href=\"https:\/\/friendsofschmeeckle.org\/\">Friends of Schmeeckle Reserve<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aldoleopoldaudubon.org\/\">Aldo Leopold Audubon Society<\/a>, and Kent and Sue Hall. Northwind Solar planned and installed all of the arrays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"energy\">Real-time Energy Production<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>SolarEdge is the company that provides monitoring services for the Schmeeckle solar panel arrays. To view real-time energy production on the SolarEdge website, click the button below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"uwspbtn uwsp-btn-solid-gold\" href=\"https:\/\/monitoring.solaredge.com\/mfe\/flutter\/kiosk\/index.html?guid=732bfe9b-f1ac-4286-a25c-6211be56d97e\" target=\"_blank\">View Solar Energy Production (SolarEdge website) <i class=\"fa-solid fa-circle-chevron-right\"><\/i><\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From 2019 to 2023, three solar panel arrays were installed on the north side of the Schmeeckle parking lot, largely supported by the UWSP student-led Green Fund. The panels produce enough electricity to offset about 75% of the visitor center&#8217;s annual energy use. A Level 2 EV charging station is also available for free on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-122","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1538,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122\/revisions\/1538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwsp.edu\/schmeeckle-reserve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}