Egglescliffe School, in Eaglescliffe, has switched on 80 photovoltaic solar panels as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.
Attending the switch-on was shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint MP, who likened the event to the industrial revolution, only with clean energy.
Mrs Flint said: “I’d like to see Teesside leading the country and the world in renewable energy.
“Small changes make a huge difference.”
The £40,000 panels will help save up to 10% of the school’s energy consumption, reducing carbon dioxide production by 19,000kg, and are expected to last at least 25 years.
The project was conceived in a sustainability group at the school, which had been working on reducing the school’s carbon footprint.
Alan Richardson, head of the science department, explained that different sustainable energy sources were discussed, but that many of them were too difficult to set up within the school.
“Solar panels were the obvious choice,” he said.
An appeal for help through power firm EDF Energy was made in 2011 in order to fund the scheme.
Headteacher Angela Darnell joked there was “no way the school governors could raise that much money,” as an explanation behind the appeal.
The school received a letter in the summer of 2012 which granted £20,873 through the EDF Energy Green Fund Award, which was matched by funding from Tata Global Beverages, Sabic and the school governors.
The panels will also play a role as a teaching aid for both science and geography, allowing teachers to demonstrate to pupils a source of power which does not rely on fossil fuels.
