News
Solar energy to power student apartments
This 1.1-megawatt solar array is expected to start providing power to student apartments by fall 2010.
-
Print -
Comments
-
“By helping us generate our own power on campus, this solar array helps us take a significant step toward meeting one of the primary goals of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, in which the university has pledged to go climate-neutral.”
The New York Power Authority has awarded UB $7.5 million to construct a 1.1-megawatt solar-energy array on the North Campus that will generate clean energy directly from the sun for students living in the university’s apartment complexes.
The solar array, consisting of approximately 5,000 photovoltaic panels, will be installed on or adjacent to the Melvin H. Baker Chilled Water Plant on Flint Road, which delivers utility services to the 1,200-acre campus.
NYPA will work with UB to provide site design, engineering and construction services for the project.
This will be UB's second solar electric system; in 2006, UB installed a 73.5-kilowatt demonstration solar system on top of Norton Hall, which provides at least 6 percent of that building's power.
The award to UB serves as a cornerstone of NYPA’s $21 million statewide renewable energy program and will advance the UB 2020 strategic plan's focus on making the university's three campuses great places to live, work and learn, in part by improving their environmental sustainability.
It will be the largest solar installation on any college or university campus in New York State and one of the largest on any campus in the United States, according to the American Solar Energy Society. NYPA says it will reduce carbon emissions at UB by more than 500 metric tons per year.
Designed to produce 1.1 megawatts (1.1 million watts) of electricity, the solar array is expected to be operating by fall 2010. It will provide power to Flint, Hadley, South Lake and Creekside village apartments, a total of 735 apartments housing nearly 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
The solar array will be specially designed to operate in a cold-weather environment and withstand heavy snowfall, serving as a benchmark for future systems in similar climates. In doing so, the UB-NYPA project will promote the development of innovative solar technologies.
As a result of this project, Western New York could become a new center for green-collar jobs as the UB-NYPA partnership includes collaborations with the university and area colleges to start training and certifying personnel in the installation of solar panels.
President John B. Simpson said UB "takes great pleasure in accepting this exciting grant from the New York Power Authority."
"This grant not only recognizes UB's long record of environmental leadership, but it commits us to a greener, more sustainable future that is exactly in keeping with the goals of UB 2020 and Building UB," he said.
"By helping us generate our own power on campus, this solar array helps us take a significant step toward meeting one of the primary goals of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, in which the university has pledged to go 'climate-neutral,'" Simpson added.
Combined with existing clean energy purchases, this project puts UB well past the 15 percent interim renewable energy target set for signatories of the Presidents Climate Commitment.
Simpson noted that the project also will foster UB education and research in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the area of renewable energy. It will provide students and researchers with the opportunity to study and track the real-time functioning of an on-site clean energy system. The system will include a data acquisition feature that will be especially useful in research and education.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom about Buffalo's weather, data from the National Weather Service shows that from May through November, Buffalo is the sunniest and driest city in the Northeast, making it an ideal candidate for generating solar power.
The project will give many UB students the unique experience of living in apartments where their electricity is provided not by the burning of fossil fuels hundreds of miles away, but by the clean, renewable power of the sun here on campus, with virtually no greenhouse gas emissions, Simpson noted.
UB student Emily Bauer, member of the UB Environmental Stewardship Committee and a delegate to the State University of New York Student Assembly, said she and her fellow students look forward to construction of the solar array on the UB campus.
"Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the next generation and is of great concern to UB students," she said. "By stepping up as a leader in solar energy, UB has shown it is committed to a bright future for our environment."
The new solar installation at UB will be the largest ground-mounted PV system in New York State.
Reader Comments