Education Belize Project #5710

Provide electricity to 500 students in Belize

by Holy Cross Education Foundation

Project Report | Oct 1, 2026
Phase 2 of New Solar Expansion Getting Underway!

By John McHenry | Project Leader

Dear Supporters!

I do realize it has been awhile since my last report .... but that report was a milestone for our project, in that we completed adding 35 new solar panels and the peripheral equipment to support it. Amazing -- thanks to you!

We are now busy planning for Phase 2. As I showed in my last report, we are still well under peak demand even with the additional panels and larger inverters. As school has resumed, even with our systems producing nearly 9KWH at peak solar input, we are demanding up to 15KWH, at least on System 1. And with new classrooms needed and planned, we will need even more. Over the last several years we have not had the capacity to accept new students due to public school class size limits. But now, with more than 100 new children not having a place to go to school each year -- we have been given the green light to add teaching space. This will certainly increase our need for solar and other utilities as well.

Thus, in Phase 2, we are planning on focusing on obtaining both battery storage units and additional solar panels. Our most recent estimate from our partners in Belmopan, the capital of Belize, suggest that we should begin raising funds to acquire:

18 new 475W solar panels
22kwH battery bank

The battery bank will (1) capture power (up to capacity) when we have typically been feeding it to ground and wasting it. This occurs when demand is low but sunshine is abundant, often on weekends as well as on cooler days; (2) provide critical power to offices during the all-too-frequent rolling black-outs that are occuring due to power company issues; (3) and supply power up to capacity (22kwH) overnight. We can easily see from the egauge analysis that this will not be enough storage to make it through a single evening --- perhaps 2-6 hours of actual SRE power can be re-claimed overnight --- but the combination of the new panels and the battery bank is going to be another major step forward for the school to eventually have energy independence.

My next trip on-site is not scheduled until January, but I will file an interim report before I go down to let ya'll know how our Phase 2 planning is coming along.....

We continue to give thanks to you for all that you do!

John

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May 4, 2026
Phase 1 of New Solar Expansion Completed!!!

By John McHenry | Project Leader

SESB installers

Dear Supporters and Friends! At my site visit last month, our partners, Solar Energy Solutions Belize, installed the final group of panels to complete Phase 1 of our New Solar Expansion Project at Holy Cross. With the purchase and installation of ~35 new panels and related infrastructure, we are truly grateful for your amazing support in making this finally come to fruition!!

The egauges show that at peak demand we have improved from about 20% pre-project to about 75% post-project in terms of production offset, which is huge (image shown). This is true for each of our two systems -- one that supports the office, computer learning lab, and library complex, and the other that supports our kitchen, cafeteria, and classroom side of the school grounds.

We are still to address the major new multipurpose building as well as add to the existing Phase 1 build-out so that we can reach 100% offset at peak production... and to reach this goal we will need a Phase 2.

As a reminder, even though we can reach 75-80% at peak demand now, we do not have a battery backup that can capture overproduction for either nocturnal use or doing cloudy periods, and as the cost of such continues to decline we will be looking inot this option as a possible component of Phase 2 (or beyond).

I will be updating our "need to raise" amount for this project as we reflect also having completed our fundraising, but, of course, we will need more as Phase 2 gets rolling -- and more on that to come.

Enjoy these photos of the volunteer team, installation, and egauge "results" and be proud that you are contributing to a project that not only signifcantly reduces the cost of keeping the doors open for our 500 students and faculty, but also helps in fighting the battle against human-induced global climate warming.

With all great thanks!

John

Volunteers at Holy Cross on SOLAR Acceptance day

Some of the new panels installed in Phase 1

One of the inverters that converts DC to AC power

Four day representative Demand/Production curve

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Dec 16, 2025
Over the Top!!

By John McHenry | Project Leader

Cultural Day at Holy Cross Public School

Dear All!

As the holiday season nears, and in this season of giving, I am OVER THE TOP!!

I am so very thankful to inform you that, do to YOUR donations and the kind donations of others as well, we have reached our initial expansion goal for the first of the two Lots mentioned in my previous report!! THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!

In fact, we have now signed a contract with Solar Energy Solutions Belize (SESB) to provide the school with the following upgrade:

* 28 new AXIbiperfect GL WB AC-455Wp Bifacial Solar Panels yielding 12.7kW at peak performance

* All peripherals needed to provide roof mounting and system functionality

* Shipping

* Installation and Commissioning

* 1-Year on-site Maintenance up to 3 techs

* 1-Year remote monitoring

----------------------------------------------------

With the contract in place, we expect initial progress to begin in January, hopefully timed with my next on-site visit, which is planned for the weekend of January 17th. We are then planning on (pending finalization of the schedule with SESB, and if all goes well) completing the installation and commissioning the upgraded system the first week in April, 2026, which will be timed with my following on-site visit.

In the meantime, we will be continuing to raise funds for Lot 2 -- but won't know the exact quantity needed until monitoring data is available after a few months of operations (to obtain a dry-season daily production/demand average) of the new Lot 1 expansion.

Again, we on the Foundation Board and the students and staff at the school cannot thank you enough for your continued dedication and perseverance in this project. I look forward to sharing pictures of the Lot 1 installation progress with you in my next report.

PLEASE ALSO REMEMBER: NO MATTER where solar is located, it helps mitigate the climate change crisis! In light of the current international political situation -- and in light of dwindling arctic sea ice ( my professional career is in meteorology) we need this now more than ever!! We need your help more than ever in sustaining what you have built, and adding to it. Please make renewables a target of your giving, and if you can't do it effectively in the US, do it overseas. Here's a perfect opportunity.
Most sincerely,

John

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