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06 June 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Rian Horn
Solar Panels at UFS Qwaqwa Campus
Revolutionising electricity with sun power: Solar panels at the Qwaqwa Campus.

Over the past few years the University of the Free State (UFS) has been planting panels, now the time has come to reap. Solar farms produced a return on investment in the form of R1.4 million in savings as a result of photovoltaics (PV) between January and March 2019. Nicolaas Esterhuysen, an electrical engineer at the Department of University Estates also reported a 2.34% decline in electricity usage between 2013 and 2018. 

Solar panels are the future 

According to Esterhuysen, the solution to a power crisis lies in “either becoming more energy efficient or generating our own at a cheaper cost”. All campuses have managed to save a total of R5.4 million in 2018 through producing our own power (solar PV) and actively managing the instantaneous load demand with building management system (BMS) software.

Overall, ground-mounted PV installations at all campuses contribute 2609 kilowattpeak (kWp) under standard conditions. The Bloemfontein Campus accounts for 979kWp of that amount while the South Campus generates 762kWp, with the Qwaqwa Campus producing 748kWp, and the Paradys experimental farm bringing in 120kWp to the grand total (to be commissioned June 2019).

Rooftop PVs generate electricity through the 80kWp Muller Potgieter Building, the 255kWp Bloemfontein Campus computer lab, the 35kWp Qwaqwa Campus computer lab, 135kWp Qwaqwa Campus Mandela Hall, and 416kWp Thakaneng Bridge panels. This is a total of 921kWp. 

Winter is coming with tariff terrors 

A 15.63% electricity tariff increase is projected this year in light of the annual winter adjustments commissioned by Eskom and Centlec. To gear up for the associated spike in power use over this season, University Estates advises the Kovsie community to use energy efficiently. “Think twice before switching on the heating and make sure to switch it off when you leave the office,” advises Esterhuysen.

In addition to generating electricity, saving initiatives such as implementing light-emitting diode (LED) lighting with motion sensors and actively managing demand at peak times have been implemented.

What’s next?

The next step is to rethink dated mechanical installations that are used to heat some of our older buildings. Replacing similar installations across all of the campuses are some of the ways the university intends to escalate energy efficient in future. 

News Archive

Max du Preez on South Africa’s leadership vacuum
2011-08-29

 

Present at the CR Swart Memorial Lecture was, from the left: Prof. Hussein Solomon, senior Professor in our Department of Political Science; Prof. Theo Neethling, Head of our Department of Political Science; Max du Preez and Prof. Lucius Botes,Dean of our Faculty of Humanities.
Photo: Stephen Collett

“Much has been going wrong in South Africa in the last few years and it’s all due to a lack of strong, visionary leadership. South Africans deserve better and should demand more integrity, courage and vision from the present political leadership,” veteran journalist and author Max du Preez told the audience at a packed Wynand Mouton Theatre at our university, on 25 August 2011.

Delivering this year’s CR Swart Memorial Lecture on the topic “Of Jacob, Julius, Jimmy and the Dancing Monkey”, Du Preez told the audience to look with much more critical eyes at the political leadership and decide who is doing the obvious, following his or her basest instincts or simply trying to play to the gallery. “Why look at a man like Julius Malema and let him upset us, why listen to Floyd Shivambu with his crude manners and let them define us?” Du Preez asked the more than 300 people attending the memorial lecture. The CR Swart Memorial Lecture, the 41st hosted by the UFS, attracted one of the largest crowds ever for a public lecture, with some people sitting on the steps inside the auditorium of the Wynand theatre.
 
Telling the story of African philospher Morena Mohlomi, who acted as a teacher to Basuto king Moshoeshoe, Du Preez told the audience that the country needs counter-intuitive leadership like the two leaders had demonstrated. Calling Mohlomi southern Africa’s first Pan Africanist, Du Preez said the extroadinary thing about Morena Mohlomi and his student was their gift of counter-intuitive leadership, leadership that was daring and visionary, leadership that did not simply do the obvious. Pointing out other visionary leaders like Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Beyers Naude and Van Zyl Slabbert, Du Preez urged the audience to question “the quality of leadership of Cosatu, the Democratic Teachers Union that is messing up our education, the Communist Party, the Democratic Alliance, the Freedom Front Plus and Solidarity. If they don’t live up to our expectations, why do we still tolerate them?” Du Preez asked.
 
Du Preez also commended Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, for his counter-intuitive leadership regarding the Reitz Residence incident and said Prof. Jansen’s solution, as controversial as it was, brought a much better outcome.
 
Please find attached the full speech of Max Du Preez.

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