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UFS installs solar plants on all campuses, bolstering renewable energy amid continuing power cuts

18 August 2023 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Francois van Vuuren

Bloemfontein Campus Solar Farm — The solar plant on the UFS’s Bloemfontein Campus, part of the university’s commitment to combatting loadshedding and embracing sustainable energy.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has installed solar plants across its three campuses.

The university says this is in response to the call for urgent solutions to loadshedding and the promotion of environmentally sustainable, cleaner, and renewable energy solutions.

Nicolaas Esterhuysen, Director of Engineering Services at UFS University Estates, said,

“The PV (photovoltaic) systems are grid-tied without storage to ensure maximum benefits and faster payback periods.”

Esterhuysen said the UFS has saved up to R32,5 million since the first solar plant was commissioned in 2017 to help the UFS reduce the impact of loadshedding and its carbon footprint and energy costs. “This will substantially increase this year with the commissioning of two large new ground-mounted solar plants on the Bloemfontein Campus,” he said.

“The microgrid installation on Qwaqwa Campus is one of the biggest solar diesel hybrid systems installed in South Africa. It allows us to keep the campus running despite excessive power interruptions.”

The UFS is currently embarking on research as part of the Grid-related Research Group (GRRP) under the Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures (ICDF) to also help staff and students with understanding renewable energy and sustainability.

Esterhuysen said the plants are further evidence of the UFS’s commitment to renewable and energy saving solutions. “It is our flagship project, but our focus is also on energy saving initiatives – to ensure we are becoming more energy efficient and eliminate energy wastage. We have plans for expansion on all campuses. Some of the highlights are an off-grid solution for the new student centre at Qwaqwa Campus and to make South Campus a self-sustaining campus.”

The installed grid-tied system solar plants are operating without batteries on all three campuses, giving the university an optimal configuration between capital cost and payback period.

The energy generated at the solar plants:

Bloemfontein Campus – 3688 kWp

Qwaqwa Campus – 918 kWp

South Campus – 759 kWp

Paradys – 125 kWp

News Archive

Mpofu-Walsh inspires with music, word, and wisdom

2017-08-22

Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh shared with the audience the
creative process of writing a song at the 2017
TEDxUFS conference.
Photo: Voxomnia

“Sometimes it’s the parts of us that give us the most agony, the parts of us that we think we need to change to conform to other people’s expectations, which are actually the gateways which allow us to make an impact in the world.”

This encouragement from Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh was one of the highlights of the 2017 TEDxUFS conference. According to the author, musician, and activist, we should embrace every part of ourselves. We should understand that the way in which each of us can change the world, is by becoming one with all the different parts of us which people think can’t come together.

Audience hears project for first time

For the first time ever, Sizwe shared material from his project Democracy and delusionwith an audience at the 4th annual TEDxUFS conference in the Odeion Theatre at the University of the Free State on 5 August 2017. Other speakers included the likes of Murendeni Mafumo, founder of Gentle Giant, and Elijah Djan, CEO and inventor of Nubrix.

The event also included TEDx videos, breath-taking performances, and cutting-edge technological exhibitions. The theme was Prism of Possibilities.

Launching a book and album together

Sizwe shared how he, while studying at the University of Oxford, embarked on an ambitious project where he combined his passion for academics and music: To release a book and album about the same things at the same time.

The project is a reflection of the political landscape in South Africa. Sizwe showed how he created a song about student protests by putting different layers of music together.

“The only way to do something that will leave you truly remembered is to do something different. It is to take all of yourself and pour it into the creative pursuit that you produce.”

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