Pennsylvania Students Build Solar System From Scratch

Derek Mast loves watching lightbulbs flicker on when his students power up the solar system they built with their own hands. The Pennsylvania master electrician designed a 6.4 kW solar-plus-storage training system at Lancaster County Career and Technology Center that students can assemble, disassemble, and rebuild again.

The project came together through workforce training grants from a local power company and the Lancaster County Career and Technology Foundation. Mast's employer donated leftover solar panels from previous jobs, proving that schools don't need much to create effective training programs.

Students laid the panels and racking directly in the grass for easy access. They installed the inverter, battery, combiner box, and AC panel themselves while Mast guided them through each step.

The system isn't connected to the power grid, which keeps regulations simple and students safer while learning. It only energizes light bulbs and charges batteries when switched on, but that's enough to show students exactly how solar power works.

Mast made one crucial design choice: he left the wiring between solar panels visible instead of hiding it in conduit like normal installations. Students can trace the path electricity takes from panels to inverter to battery, understanding the circuit routing that usually stays hidden.

The Ripple Effect

Teaching beginners turned out to benefit Mast just as much as his students. "I absolutely love talking to students about this kind of thing because they will hit on so many things that I just kind of forget that people think about," he explained.

After years of expertise, he found that teaching forces him back to basics. Students ask questions that remind him of fundamental steps he'd started taking for granted.

"Remembering the basics is always beneficial for any expert," Mast said. "If you forget that stuff over time, you're going to start picking up bad habits and apathy."

Future plans include adding a generator to the system and opening up the AC panel for even more visibility during training. Mast wants the setup to reflect what residential customers actually want installed in their homes.

He's already thinking about expanding the program because getting to show students how systems work and watching them succeed feels like the coolest part of his job.