What happens when you install solar panels in a school, not just to the energy bill, but to the students, teachers, and parents inside it? This report answers that question across four countries and two years.

The Sunny Schools Impact Assessment: Western Balkans Comparative Study 2023–2025 presents the end-term findings of Phase One of the Path to Just Green Transition project, a regional initiative supporting photovoltaic (PV) installations in public schools across Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. The study covers 47 schools and tracks changes in climate change awareness, renewable energy literacy, and school community engagement across three evaluation phases: baseline, midterm, and end-term.

Using a quasi-experimental design that compares treatment schools (those with PV systems installed) with control schools, the report offers a rigorous, evidence-based picture of what solar infrastructure in schools can and cannot achieve on its own.

Key findings include:

• Solar panel awareness increased substantially over the study period, particularly among teachers and students in treatment schools. In Kosovo, the student treatment group’s solar awareness score rose from 6.2 at baseline to 9.0 at the end of the term.
• Climate change awareness remained consistently high across all stakeholder groups and countries, signaling a strong foundation for climate education in the region.
• PV systems produced measurable gains in school autonomy and trust in clean energy, with lower energy costs enabling reinvestment in education.
• Parent engagement remains the most persistent gap: school-based interventions showed stronger reach in the classroom than in the broader household and community settings.
• Biomass and geothermal energy remain poorly understood across the region, underscoring the need for more targeted energy literacy programming beyond solar.

The report concludes that physical infrastructure and climate education must go hand in hand. PV systems can open a door but sustained impact requires ongoing programming, community outreach, and integration into school curricula.

The study covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania. Serbia, which was included in earlier phases, could not participate in the end-term data collection due to political and logistical constraints.