Solar One

Solar One Environmental Education Center

Overview and Benefits

The Solar One Environmental Education Center, currently under construction, will be completed in early 2025 with programming for the public to commence in spring 2025.

Located along the waterfront, the Center will be a model of resiliency for hurricanes, storm surges, and other potential emergency conditions and will feature advanced sustainable building engineering and design components.

Energy Generation and Resiliency

The center will feature a solar photovoltaic array alongside the FDR Drive, visible to tens of thousands of New Yorkers every day. It will generate off the grid solar electricity allowing the building to serve as a community disaster relief center in the event of future storms. Energy storage will enable the building to be fully resilient.

Due to its location in a V-Zone, the building will be elevated 10 feet, with elevated mechanicals, steel structure and foundation that are hurricane, tornado, and seismic resistant.

Economic Development and Related Programming

The Center will encourage New Yorkers to make energy efficiency and renewables investments in their buildings and businesses, while the beautiful setting of Stuyvesant Cove Park, the Center’s backyard, will support a myriad of learning, recreation, and arts opportunities. The Center will be an education destination for the thousands of NYC public school children who participate in Solar One’s Green Design Lab programs each year. It will provide indoor and outdoor experiences for learning about sustainability, climate change, and resiliency as students engage in hands-on activities and demonstrations in our state-of-the art classrooms.

The Solar One Environmental Education Center will enable Solar One to: 

  • Provide student classrooms to be used in tandem with field trips and service learning opportunities in the Park, as an extension of our K-12 education program. 
  • Deliver professional development training to teachers on how to incorporate our climate change curriculum in their STEM classes.
  • Encourage synchronicity between workshops that focus on both outdoor and indoor learning activities, including, for example, soil testing and water quality monitoring, composting and permaculture, and oyster and mussel gardening.  
  • Serve as a site for job fairs for workforce trainees who have completed our hard skills program. 
  • Provide flexibility and new options for expanded workforce classroom and career development experiences. 
  • Offer public space for information sessions, webinars, and community outreach events, significantly expanding the number of individuals our Green Workforce and Here Comes Solar teams connect with annually. 
  • Present communal programs that highlight legislation, incentives and innovations in renewable energy, food, water management, transportation. 
  • Create a venue for music, arts, and family-focused programming. 
  • Offer event rental space for both nonprofit and for-profit companies on days when Solar One-produced events and classes have not been scheduled. Amenities will  include presentation capabilities, a sound system, and a dedicated area for  caterers. 
  • Enable a membership program for individuals and families. 
  • Offer year-round onsite programs in conjunction with the Park for the first time.  

With beautiful East River views, the Solar One Environmental Education Center will provide a unique venue that is sustainable, flexible, affordable and highly functional for everything from panel discussions and intimate gatherings to full band performances and celebrations.

To learn more about future programming, event rentals and funding opportunities, please contact development@solar1.org.