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WENTWORTH — There’s something unusual about the electric meter on the little one-story house at the edge of Rockingham Community College’s campus.

It’s running backward.

The explanation is found in a clearing in front of the house, where a bank of solar panels soaks in the sun’s rays.

It’s the fruit of the school’s first experiment with solar panel technology.

Students installed the two rows of panels, which began producing electricity late last month .

The project gives them experience with a new technology — all while producing some free power for the college, said instructor Keith Elliott .

“They’ve been really excited by it,” he said. “It’s another item they can put in their tool kit.”

And there’s also the financial benefit.

“It’s kind of nice to come in and see your meter turning backward and see that you’re not paying something — you’re actually going to get paid,” he said.

Even during the brutal heat of the day, the panels provide more than enough juice to run the air conditioning in the house, which serves as a lab for students studying electrical work.

Ideally, Elliott said, a system pushes more power back into the grid during the day than gets sucked out at night.

The school bought the panels last year, and students installed them in the spring. That included building a stand for the panels — making them easier to access, as opposed to being on a roof — and installing a box that converts the solar-created direct current to alternating current.

For students such as Ron Cox of Eden, the project provided a chance to learn about the growing field of green technology. Cox, a longtime Hanes employee who recently lost his job, is in a two-year program in electrical work.

He’s enthusiastic about the possibilities of solar energy and hopes what he’s learning will help in his employment search after graduating.

“It was fun being involved with something like this,” Cox said. “The main thing right now is the cost of the panels. As the technology gets better and the price goes down, I think more people will be interested in it.”

Price can be an issue. The system the school installed might cost about $15,000 now, Elliott said.

“Payback’s long term, really,” he said. “You’re talking years and years and years.”

Still, “once you get it in place, it’s paying you back.”

And there is no other way to produce your own electricity so cheaply.

“It is your power,” Elliott said. “Until they find a way to start charging you for the sun.”

Finally, the converter box keeps track of carbon saved. A check before and after a relatively short conversation on a recent afternoon showed the savings: about 4 pounds worth.

Elliott predicts the price of solar systems will drop as incentives and other factors lead to growing demand.

“I’m hoping that people are becoming more efficient in their use of things,” he said. “That’s part of what conservation is, becoming more efficient with what you’ve got.”

The house, lined with coils of wire and other tools of the trade, includes other green features, such as a solar-powered hot water heater.

Elliott sounds proud when he talks about the work he and students did on the system.

“Long after I’m gone, I hope that system is still here producing power,” he said.

Contact Jason Hardin at 373-7021 or at jason.hardin@news-record.com