The school’s P&C association and the New South Wales Department of Education split the cost for the solar panel system evenly.

Bryce Wilson, president of the P&C, said the system addressed an ongoing issue for the school.

“We found out that the school was actually well over its power bill each month,” he said.

“What this does in a budgetary sense is take pressure off the school to meet its power commitments.”

Mr Wilson said the panels would provide roughly one-third of the school’s power. Jerrabomberra Public School uses about 600 kilowatts per day and the system is currently producing 190 kilowatts with the ability to reach 250-300 kilowatts in summer.

All NSW schools are given an allocation for power that the government will cover and the solar panels are expected to bring the school back under their allocation.

The system also produces a number of other benefits to the school community, Mr Wilson said.

“As a [P&C] group we think it’s important to demonstrate what principles are important to us, sustainability is one of those,” he said.

“We also thought it’d be a great learning opportunity for students.”

The panels have been operational for almost a month and Jerrabomberra principal Chris Hunter said students have been able to study data from the system and incorporate it in their learning.

According to Mr Wilson the project began in November 2015 and was delayed for several months awaiting Department of Education approval. However, once on board the department offered to cover half of the $80,000 cost of the project.

The panels are expected to pay for themselves within six years.