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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 building on UFS Qwaqwa Campus makes provision for research on environmental problems

2015-12-11

The new Geography and Physics Building on the Qwaqwa Campus

Student numbers in Geography and Physics on the Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State have escalated over the past five years. This has resulted in a need for more space for these two departments.

The acute and persistent shortage of lecturing space has been a major stumbling block on the campus, with only four of the Natural Sciences departments - Chemistry, Physics, Plant Sciences, and Zoology and Entomology – able to fit into the Natural Sciences building. To solve the problem, a separate facility for both the Geography and the Physics departments was built.

The new complex, which includes lecture rooms, laboratories, and offices, places the Department of Physics on the ground floor because the weight of some of the laboratory equipment. The Department of Geography is on the first floor.

The Department of Geography places strong emphasis on montane research. Research is being conducted on environmental problems in the Maluti-a-Phofung area. This research encompass in situ and ex situ conservation of paleontological resources, with the aim of setting up a GIS-based environmental management system, as well as the role of local cultures in promoting regional tourism.

The Department of Physics places emphasis on changing and improving community perceptions of electricity and electronics. The major part of the research has been in the field of solid-state physics, and, more specifically, on nanophosphors and other luminescent nanoparticles.

The building is in the north-eastern corner of the campus, opposite the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

The project was completed in 2015.

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