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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

Former UFS Dean awarded SAAWK medal for contribution to Bible translation work

2016-05-09

Prof Hermie van Zyl
Photo: Eugene Seegers

Prof Hermie van Zyl, former Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of the Free State (UFS), was recently awarded the Ds Pieter van Drimmelen medal by the South African Academy of Science and Arts (SAAWK) for his contribution to Afrikaans Bible translation and other translation work.

Prof Van Zyl was part of the team that published the Interlinear translation of the Bible (New Testament) in Greek and Afrikaans. This translation takes the reader from the original text (Greek), to an almost verbatim version, to a rough translation, and, ultimately, to a more polished, finished translation in the target language of Afrikaans.

Other translations Prof Van Zyl has been involved in include the Afrikaans Bible for the Deaf (published in 2008), the direct translation of the Bible (of which the New Testament and the Psalms have already been published), the New Living Translation, the Parallel New Testament, and the Reference Bible. He is the first lecturer from the Faculty of Theology at the UFS to receive an award from the SAAWK.

“It is a wonderful privilege and an honour and really came out of nowhere,” said Prof Van Zyl. He added that he is grateful that, amongst all the wonderfully talented people at the UFS, he could make a modest contribution. He mentioned that the collegial conversations, seminars, and other discussions in the faculty over the years, were very stimulating. He singled out Prof Jan du Rand and Prof Francois Tolmie (another former Dean of the Faculty and long-time colleague in the department of New Testament Studies) as inspiration.

The official presentation of the medal will take place in the Atterbury Theatre in Pretoria on 29 June 2016.

Prof Van Zyl was employed in the Faculty of Theology at the UFS for 29 years until his retirement in 2013. He is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of New Testament, and still lectures on occasion.

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