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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

'Physical education at school level important,' says Minister

2010-09-16

At the conference were, from the left: Monique de Milander, Prof. Johan Bloemhoff, Rev. Makhenkesi Stofile, Emile Langeveld and Riaan Schoeman.

A record number of four staff members from the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) presented papers at the South African Sport and Recreation Conference (SASreCon). This conference was presented by Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) from the National Department of Sport and Recreation. This is South Africa’s primary national conference on sport and exercise science.

The conference, that was hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban with the theme Sport, Recreation and Physical Education – An Essential Triad, highlighted the important triangular relationship between sports science, recreation and physical education. A host of leading South African and international speakers presented papers on key topics that are relevant to the South African sports and exercise landscape.

The four staff members who attended also had the opportunity to meet the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Rev. Makhenkesi Stofile. The Minister reiterated the importance of physical education at school level to ensure that South Africa can compete against the best in the world at stadiums such as the iconic Moses Mabhida Stadium, where the function was hosted.

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