Over 200 students from Melbourne Girls College will be pedaling for up to 10 hours in groups of four on stationary bicycles to power up the school’s annual carbon neutral, human powered cinema on 19 February 2016.

The outdoor pedal-powered cinema, to be held at the school from 5pm, comes as the school seeks donations from students, family members and the broader community to fund an additional 67kWh of solar power for its existing 33kWh solar photovoltaic (PV) system designed by Living Energy Solutions using Enphase microinverters.

Using the detailed solar panel-level generation monitoring available on Enphase’s Enlighten platform, donors can opt for individual solar panels to be named after each sponsor. The public will be able to view all solar panels sponsored from the event through the Enlighten public system map.

This fundraising event has delivered a model that will allow Enphase to partner with other schools looking to install solar through a donor-and-panel matching program.

Enphase will partner with Living Energy Solutions and Melbourne Girls College to establish a community solar program in Richmond, Victoria. Donations of solar panels and Enphase microinverters will be made to the school for solar systems purchased through the community solar program by homeowners or businesses.

Operational since October, the 33kWh PV system together with grid-connected human pedal and rowing generators, a wind-turbine and micro-hydro generator, will produce up to 45% of Melbourne Girls College’s energy needs which is approximately 50,000 kilowatt-hours annually.

In 2015, Melbourne Girls’ College received international acclaim as a global leader in sustainability for high schools in Oceania. It received US$100,000 from the Zayed Future Energy Prize to build a curriculum-integrated renewable energy education centre.