by Drayton Charlton Perrin
The Paducah Sun
July 22, 2026
Used with permission.
Paducah Public Schools expects a new solar field at the former Forest Hills School campus to begin operating in August, cutting energy costs and expanding hands-on renewable energy education for students.
“The idea came out of a desire to actually have some renewable energy sources for the district,” said PPS Assistant Superintendent Will Black. “It also coincided with the federal grant that enabled us to make that a reality.”
PPS received an $875,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund the site in 2024. It’s now in its final phase of construction, and Black expects it to be fully operational by mid to late August.
The solar field will allow for the school system to expand its science and engineering curriculum by giving students a place to get hands-on experience with a renewable energy source.
“We’re engaging teachers across the K-12 spectrum on this,” Black said. “We have a team working on developing project-based learning units related to solar energy. Some of those projects would involve kids actually going out, visiting the site [and] maybe doing a scavenger hunt on the site based on what they see there.”
Black said the field will also build on existing learning and allow for more complex projects.
“Our goal is to scale up the number of projects that kids are engaged in around solar energy and other renewable resources over the next two years,” Black said.
Previous solar projects conducted at PPS include solar car races, which Black said were among the most popular.
“It involved the kids learning about not just solar power but also how to design a car efficiently,” Black said. “At the high school level, our engineering class studied how to build much larger solar vehicles big enough for a person to ride in. Hopefully this year we will actually see a fully operational vehicle come out of that.”
PPS will also sell the energy from the solar field to Paducah Power System and, in return, receive a credit on its power bill.
“We can then use those resources that we’ve saved from generating that power to go back to the classroom and to really help our students,” Black said. “We can put that money toward learning as opposed to just powering the lights in the classroom.”
As renewable energy sources become more popular, Black said the field allows students to get a head start on using the technology and will be prepared for the future.
“Solar energy has become much more efficient and much more economical,” Black said. “We want kids to be on the cutting edge. We want them to understand that technology, and hopefully they will be able to engage with that technology either as a consumer or in the workplace.”
The Innovation Hub at Paducah Tilghman High School hosts many of the school’s solar and renewable energy projects. Black adds that the building also uses renewable energy to help regulate its temperature.
“The Innovation Hub actually has geothermal heating and cooling,” Black said. “That’s a completely renewable resource that just involves the ground here around the building.”
As school approaches, Black said students can expect many more renewable energy and solar-specific projects over the coming year.
“Hopefully you will see examples of that here at the hub, and also in each of our schools,” Black said.