The ELECTRI International Council has chosen the NECA Student Chapter at The Pennsylvania State University as the winner of ELECTRI’s 2020 Student Passport Competition.

The student team presented the project – Solar Initiative at the Strawberry Mansion Community Garden – at the recent ELECTRI Council meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida. Students explained their plan to design and install a solar array for a community garden within Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. In addition to providing much needed electricity for community garden tools, the project team will provide hands-on skills to young adults including Penn State students and those from a local high school.

One important feature of this project that captured the Council’s attention is its collaborative nature. Penn State NECA Student Chapter, In cooperation with the University’s student chapter of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), will launch a partnership with Serenity Soular and the Philadelphia Energy Authority. Working together through the spring of 2020, they will give community area students hands-on experience in the design, logistical planning, and installation of a 400 W solar PV system for the Community Garden.

In addition to the actual construction effort, Penn State’s NECA Student Chapter and ASES Student Chapter will create a series of classroom-style learning sessions related to the project’s objectives. The goal of these seminars is to generate greater student interest in the electrical contracting industry as a future career path and to offer a basic learning experience to students who want to gain extracurricular knowledge about solar energy.

For additional information about ELECTRI International’s Student Passport initiatives and how to create a NECA Student Chapter in your geographic region, visit here.