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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

Political scientist address Maritime Security Africa 2009 Conference

2009-10-29

Prof. Theo Neethling from the Department of Political Science was recently invited to address the Maritime Security Africa 2009 Conference on the issues of piracy on the eastern coast of Africa held in Cape Town on 13 and 14 October 2009. The event brought together maritime professionals, naval personnel and academics from all over the international community.

Prof. Neethling’s paper was entitled Piracy on the eastern coast of Africa: A Political Science perspective. His paper examined the fact that growing activities of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa have increasingly threatened maritime security on the eastern coast of Africa. Prof. Neethling pointed out that, considering the fact that a very high volume of the world’s global trade moves by water, piracy is corrosive to political and social development in Africa and further afield. To this end, he explored several maritime endeavours that were launched in recent times by relevant governmental, intergovernmental and nongovernmental role players in the context of global governance. Prof. Neethling argued that piracy should be tackled in a way that combines naval action against the pirates at sea with measures to restore law and order, political processes and economic activity in Somalia. Generally, piracy often occurs when there is poverty and a weak or non-existent government. After all, insecurity on land eventually causes maritime insecurity – as is clear from the case of Somalia.
Photo: Supplied

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