by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - The sun's shining a bit brighter at St. Francis School as the Yona campus this week welcomed the completion of Guam's largest privately-owned photovoltaic renewable energy system.

Over 300 Crusaders are now being powered by the sun. "It's great, there's a lot of enthusiasm, the sun has shown its rays, and there's a lot of energy in here because it's a way not only to save money but it's a great way to kind of use our natural resources and all that money is going to go back to our education," Kevin Delgado told KUAM News. The administrator of student affairs refers to the recently installed photovoltaic system on the Yona campus.

And with a monthly capacity of 15 megawatt hours, this system produces enough power to support 15 average homes- surely something worth celebrating. "In order to celebrate this we had to prepare them to know what exactly is solar energy to adding all the elements of theological element of the sun, scientific element of the sun and putting this all together and they definitely learn," he added.

Pacific Solar and Photovolatics played a major role in completing the project by not only installing but designing and supplying it, as well. The company's co-owner Bill Hagen congratulates the school for continuing its efforts in going green, saying, "So I hope they become more and more aware that they're power, when they turn on the light or turn on a switch most of the power coming from the sun to their roof into their classroom."

The project is operated under a power purchase agreement set to save the school $11,000 a month on power and potentially a million dollars in the long run. "With 462 solar panels covering almost 8,000 square feet of roof, this system is Guam's largest privately owned renewable energy system," he said.