A student-led effort to add solar power to the West Virginia University campus has been making headway in recent years, and it’s closer than ever to becoming a reality.
The project is being spearheaded by Student Government Association president Colin Street, a junior in the Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources majoring in political science, environmental energy resources management, and multidisciplinary studies.
Street said that the idea for the project came from a research project he was working on at the WVU College of Law, where he was looking into ways the University could save money around campus.
“As I was doing this research into energy affordability and the cost of solar energy compared to something like natural gas or coal, it made sense for me to look into why WVU hadn't invested in solar as an opportunity to reduce costs,” Street said.
Thanks to solar energy tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act, Street believed solar panels would be a good way to improve the sustainability of the WVU Evansdale campus, as well as offer a valuable learning opportunity for students.
Street and his classmates also found that it wasn’t the first time solar power had been considered at the University; in 2018, a $43,000 grant had been awarded to the WVU College of Law to install solar panels on the roof of the college. Although that plan was never put into action, the money from the grant was still available, waiting to be put to good use.
“Knowing that there was funding available for a demonstrative solar project at WVU kind of lit a fire under me and some other students,” Street said.
With a little over $40,000 to work with, Street and his classmates searched for a place where solar panels could both meaningfully lower costs and be seen by students. A few different locations are being considered, but the frontrunner for the project is the roof of the Evansdale Library, with the Evansdale Greenhouse as a possible alternative site.
“We didn't want it to be something that students just walked by passively. We wanted this to be something that was engaged with.”
In the case of the Evansdale Greenhouse, Street believes it would help bridge the gap between the fields of agriculture and natural resources. Students would be able to work directly with a working solar array or conduct agricultural research by seeing how crops would react to growing under solar panels – a practice known as agrivoltaics, or using the same land for both solar energy and agriculture.
“In talking to Associate Dean Hubbart, who has more of an agricultural background, as opposed to me, who's more on the energy side of the Davis College, those conversations helped spur this idea to have the two sides of the Davis College collaborate on this project,” Street said.
The next hurdle would be to build the student and faculty support needed to make the project happen. Street said the Student Government Association has been a great platform for building support for the project.
Through student-organized events like the Sprint for Solar 5K and a “Solar Swing” concert held at 123 Pleasant Street, the project raised an additional $4,000, further demonstrating the excitement for solar energy at WVU.
Once it was clear there was broad enthusiasm for solar panels on campus, Street said school administrators were key to moving the project forward.
“Being able to work with Dean Atiles, Associate Dean Hubbart and Traci Knabenshue at the Sustainability Office has given us a more concentrated team to work with, and it's allowed us to be a little bit more nimble and get this project moving,” Street said.
By partnering with University faculty and staff, as well as student grant writers in SGA, Street and his classmates are now working on a new grant that, if approved in 2026, could further improve the scope of the project.
“We often think of administrators, faculty, staff and students as being in their own world. In reality, they all interact, but they operate independently. This project has had all of those groups in the room brainstorming together to make it happen,” Street said. “This project wouldn't be at the point we are now without that level of collaboration. And this project will not succeed if we don't maintain that collaboration.”
“Projects like this remind us what a land-grant university is capable of when students, faculty, and administrators work as one,” Hubbart said. “The Evansdale campus solar initiative is more than an energy upgrade. It is a demonstration of how collaborative thinking drives meaningful change, strengthens our academic mission, and prepares the next generation to lead a more sustainable and resilient world. This is exactly the kind of innovation WVU should champion.”
The Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources envisions a world sustainably fed, clothed and sheltered. To learn more about the Davis College, visit davis.wvu.edu. Keep up with the latest updates and news on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube by following @WVUDavis.
-WVU-
sg/12/19/25
CONTACT: Sam Gorski
Content Strategist
WVU Division for Land-Grant Engagement