Micaela Liebenberg
In 2017 the University of Pretoria signed the first power purchase agreement with an independent solar energy supplier.
Several questions have since been raised about the following: the generators on campus, the diesel they use, the university’s carbon footprint, and a planned internal loadshedding schedule as a proposed solution. PDBY investigates further.
The power purchase agreement
Professor Susan Adendorff, the director of facilities management, commented on the issues surrounding the
implementation of solar panels on campus: “We have had several service providers approach us with various models of putting solar panels on rooftops, but they all require us to invest significant capital and maintenance.” Prof. Adendorff explained that the purchase agreement is a 20-year contract in which the university is not responsible for maintenance and pays the contractors for the energy that is generated. “It is a good arrangement we have,” Prof. Adendorff stated, referencing the Eskom tariffs. “Within a matter of a year we are paying at a lower rate than what is paid in the city.”
Issues with the generators on campus
When asked if the university could afford to keep funding diesel for the generators in the long term, Prof. Adendorff replied that the budgeting did not look good. She also stated that up until
stage six of loadshedding, the department had experienced no
issues regarding the generators. “Our generators are called standby generators because it is a backup. It’s not something that is supposed to be running ten hours a day for extended periods,” she said. Furthermore, she stated that they are now having difficulty because of the age of the generators. “You can imagine that the latest machines have a totally different technology than the original machines. It’s not like we can keep all the new parts in stock.” Regarding repair maintenance, Prof Adendorff emphasised that they are doing everything they can to expedite the
repairs. “We use an external contractor to do the repairs of the machines, but there are times when the generators
are out of commission for six weeks because we have to fly in parts that still need to be manufactured.”
Internal loadshedding at UP
Because of the struggles of refuelling and maintenance, the Department of Facilities have worked out a solution to alleviate the inconveniences caused by loadshedding. “We call it ‘internal loadshedding’,”Prof Adendorff stated. Thus far the plan is to devise a schedule where if the loadshedding is at or above stage four, an internal program will be set in place which details the areas on campus that need to be prioritised in terms of power necessity. Parallel to that, the department will ask the university for a critical equipment register, which details what equipment on campus needs to be powered during loadshedding. Prof. Adendorff further stated that they are looking for UPSs (uninterrupted power supplies) to assist with this problem.
The carbon footprint
The Department of Facilities at UP releases an annual carbon footprint report. The 2022 report has not yet been served at the executive committee of the department, but Prof. Adendorff was willing to share some indicators with PDBY on where they stand. She stated,” We have very specific targets we need to meet to decrease our carbon footprint. In the last year we [have] exceeded our target.” According to Prof. Adendorff, the target was set for a period of five years, and in the first year they have already exceeded it without the additional installation of solar
panels.
The problem with implementing green energy
With the first installation of solar panels on the Merensky roof, there was a problem with storing the energy. “When the sun shines, we use the power,” explained Prof. Adendorff. She said that Ludolf van der Merwe, the deputy director of technical services, indicated that the solar panels provide 1 MVA (megavoltampere) of power in total. This is a very small portion of what the university consumes in a day, as the Hatfield and Hillcrest campuses use more than 20 MVA at peak demand. “There is no way we will ever be off the grid,” Prof. Adendorff stated. “Our peak demand is such that even if we filled every possible space we can with solar panels, it will never be enough to
supply the power [needed] to keep our two campuses running.”
feels like we can’t return to normality.”