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The federal government of Australia has established the Australian Government’s National Solar Schools Program (NSSP) to assist schools across the country to reduce their environmental impact by installing solar PV panels and solar hot water together with other sustainability measures.

The program will grant eligible schools up to $50,000 to fund the installation of solar PV panels, solar hot water systems, rain water tanks, and other energy efficient equipment. Schools who have applied before September 30th of this year will be qualified for the 2011-2012 financial year, and those who missed the application deadline can still apply for the 2012-2013 round early next year.

The program aims to deliver three major goals; reducing energy bills and saving schools money, reducing the schools environmental impacts, and to teach our children how to value the environment and how renewable energy will be a key factor in their future.

Since the commencement of the program in 2007 more than 7000 schools have registered for the program (nearly 2000 applications for 2010-2011round alone) and about 2000 schools have their new system fully installed and functional. A total of $128 million dollarshas been spent as of April 2011 for program, which will continue until June 2013.