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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

New book looks at ways in which to tackle HIV-challenges

2011-11-29

Prof. Dennis Francis with Marjorie Human who designed the cover of the book, Acting on HIV.

The HIV pandemic has brought out the best and worst in humans in terms of response. On the one hand it has prompted stigma and violence and on the other it has brought about constructive and supportive responses from various individuals and groups. A new book, Acting on HIV, edited by Prof. Dennis Francis, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of the Free State, looks at how drama can be used to promote vital social change as well as individual behavioural change.

Acting on HIV offers a systematic inquiry into drama as an approach to discuss HIV/AIDS and related attitudes and behaviours. The book is a scholarly text and includes the work of some twenty exceptionally creative authors. Contributing authors to the book include, amongst others, Proff. Hazel Barnes (University of the Witwatersrand), Rob Pattman (Stellenbosch University) and Yvonne Sliep from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

“This project started in 2009 and has taken much of my time to bring together the work of exceptionally creative authors. The research that is communicated through the book is original and timely and makes a significant contribution to conversations about the role/s and significance of drama in addressing issues of HIV & AIDS,” says Prof. Francis.

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