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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

Dr Cawood awarded prestigious British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowship

2016-08-02

“I am absolutely thrilled to be associated with such esteemed organisations as the Newton Fund and the British Academy.” This is what Dr Stephanie Cawood, from the Centre for Africa Studies (CAS) at the University of the Free State (UFS), had to say on being awarded a prestigious British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowship. It is part of the United Kingdom’s (UK) Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Grant will assist research on the meaning of museums, monuments, spaces, and discourse

She received a grant of £62,904 (R 1,177,949.35), that will enable her to conduct research that will compare how liberation struggles have been memorialised in South Africa and Uganda. The focus will be on museums, monuments, spaces, and discourse.

The idea is to analyse the relationship between memory, space, and power, said Dr Cawood. The project will run over three years, and will involve comparative fieldwork between liberation movements in South Africa and Uganda. Dr Johnathan Fisher from the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham will be Dr Cawood’s research partner. “Building a research network between the institutions involved is an important aspect of this research,” said Dr Cawood.

Fellowship will enhance international footprint and collaboration

“I believe it will contribute significantly to my intellectual engagement, career advancement, and international footprint”.

“I believe it will contribute significantly to my
intellectual engagement, career advancement,
and international footprint”

The award also has the potential to further relations at a broader level between the UFS and the University of Birmingham. It will also strengthen a collaborative relationship between the CAS and International Development Department.

The British Academy is the UK’s national body for championing the humanities and social sciences, and counts many world-leading scholars and researchers among its ranks.

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