Let it rain! A Solar Powered Irrigation System Built by Students Erasmus Project

Project Title

Let it rain! A Solar Powered Irrigation System Built by Students

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Environment and climate change; Agriculture, forestry and fisheries; Energy and resources

Project Summary

Let it rain! A Solar Powered Irrigation System Built by Students.

For this project we – the Stadtteilschule Rissen from Hamburg and the Biotehniska sola from Maribor – have taken on a big task. Together with our students we want to build a solar powered irrigation system that will be agriculturally used in Maribor. In this, we want to build and install almost all of the required technical equipments ourselves.

With this project we combine our schools given skills and qualities. The Biotehniska sola Maribor trains its students to work in agriculture. The students bring a great range of experience in the fields of craftsmanship and agriculture with them. Last year, during our last Erasmus+ project, the Slovenian students taught our students how to properly cut the trees on our school’s meadow. The school possesses 100 hectares of fields on which they plant wine, fruits and vegetables and for this they need water and irrigation systems. These systems waste a lot of energy and this is were the project comes in. The solar powered irrigation systems we install will save energy while watering the fields. The Slovenian students will learn how they can sustainably generate electricity and how they can integrate this in their future jobs.
At the STS Rissen the students start to work in practical jobs early on. In the years 9 and 10 the students work in start-ups one day every week, where they learn about craftsmanship and the business world in general. The landscape gardening start-up we have serves as excellent preparation for the “Let it rain!”- project. Further, the STS Rissen is on its way to become a “climate school”. This requires us to take educational and practical steps to include sustainability in our school’s guidelines. What could be better to build our own solar powered energy system and teach our students how to extract energy from sunlight. The project shall serve as inspiration for sustainability and renewable energies for our school and others around.

The project will take place in year 11 and will later be integrated into our a-level profiles. We plan four student exchanges, two in each country. During this time we want to build and install the equipment. The students will, for example, pour the concrete base of the solar systems and build the frames for the irrigation system themselves. Except for the well which needs to be drilled in Maribor our students will do everything on their own.
We hope that the students will be proud of their achievements in the end and celebrate them together. Further, we want to evaluate our systems in the end and discuss whether they present a future possibility of field irrigation.

We hope that our students will bond during this common task and take this project as a chance for cultural exchange and building friendships. The students will host and teach each other which hopefully leads to very special bonds between them. Also, we need to keep our travel expenses as low as possible since we need to finance all the needed materials for our systems. This will definitely not be an easy task but we are determined to show that the sustainable and professional use of renewable energies can already begin in schools.

Project Website

https://www.letitrainasolarpoweredirrigationsystem.com

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 29136 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stadtteilschule Rissen & Country: DE

Project Partners

• BIOTEHNISKA SOLA MARIBOR