The Student Sustainability Committee allocated $5,800 to the student group, InSPIRE, that is installing solar charging stations.
This proposal directly funds:
The CEE 398 Project Based Learning and the Sustainability Minor's ENVS 492 Capstone students completed their nine fall 2017 reports.
There were five projects completed for capstone partners:
There were four other projects completed by CEE students:
The Energy Generation, Purchasing, & Distribution SWATeam met for the first time of the FY2017 on September 21. They revised their focus topics for the year and reviewed progress on current projects, such as on the rooftop solars on the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building, the Speech and Hearing Building, and the Business and Instruction Facility. Finally, EGen also discussed the possibility of building a second solar farm in order to further meet iCap goals.
The EGEN SWATeam held another bi-weekly meeting. Topics covered include:
The EGEN SWATeam held another bi-weekly meeting. Topics covered include:
The EGEN SWATeam held another bi-weekly meeting. Topics covered include:
The EGEN SWATeam held another bi-weekly meeting. Topics covered include:
The EGEN SWATeam a meeting for the Spring 2017 semester. Topics covered include:
The EGEN SWATeam held their first meeting for the Spring 2017 semester. Topics covered include:
The EGEN SWATeam held their final meeting for the Fall 2016 semester. Topics covered include:
"As the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign considers installing more solar photovoltaic modules on the roofs of buildings, the discussion turns to the type of mounting systems to consider. This discussion often elicits the tale of the modules that were originally installed on the roof of the Business Instructional Facility (BIF) using a ballast-mounted system, that is, a mounting system held down using heavy weights such as concrete blocks. The story goes that a few of the PV modules blew off the roof of the building, and this subsequently led to the modules being installed with a racking system attached to the roof of the building.
This story is an urban legend..."
Read file for more information and photos.
The 2015 iCAP, chapter 3, objective 2 is "Expand on-campus solar energy production. By FY20, produce at least 12,500 MWh/year, and by FY25 at least 25,000 MWh/year, from solar installations on campus property."
The 2015 iCAP also described the following potential strategies for achieving this objective:
The campus has a 33 kW photovoltaic array on the roof of the Business Instructional Facility (with an annual production of 44 MWh/yr) and a 14.7 kW ground-mounted array at the Building Research Lab (20 MWh/yr). During FY15, we began installation of a 300 kW array on the roof of the new Electrical and Computer Engineering Building (402 MWh/yr), and the 5.87 MW Solar Farm on the south campus (7,860 MWh/yr). There is also a solar thermal array on the roof of the Activities and Recreation Center. There are many other buildings, parcels of land, and parking lots that are well positioned to host sizeable photovoltaic and/or solar thermal arrays. Although each array in itself would make a small contribution to campus energy generation, taken together the contribution could be significant.
The solar consultation group is identifying the best places to install the next round of photovoltaic projects, and planning to move forward on several projects simultaneously. Solar thermal may make sense in some situations, as well. Student design teams could be organized through classes and volunteer groups to assist with the planning and prioritizing of on-campus solar installations.
The best time to plan for the installation of photovoltaics on a building is during the design phase. The campus could implement standards requiring that all new construction and additions include solar photovoltaics on the roof. In some cases it may also be effective to install photovoltaics on the exterior walls of the buildings."
AASHE Conference, October 11, 2016 presentation
Using Campus Solar Deployment Roadmaps to Guide University Investment: The Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA), Second Nature, and TurningPoint Energy have developed an approach with four Midwest universities to define opportunities for on- and off-campus solar investment through a Campus PV Deployment Roadmap. In this panel, participants will hear presentations about the roadmapping process in general, specific incentives to universities and students, financial modeling and assistance offerings, and first-hand experience from one of our pilot universities.
The EGEN SWATeam held their second meeting for the Fall 2016 semester. Topics covered include:
In support of the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot initiative, NREL is offering no-cost technical assistance to universities seeking to go solar.
In the Energy Billing System (EBS), there are meters for solar energy on campus. In BIF, 3D stands for electricity delivered and 3R stands for received (the energy the arrays use when not generating).
Japan is now implementing floating solar farms, on large bodies of water. The water keeps the panels cooler than ambient temperature, so they are more efficent.
the Indy airport solar array is 17.5 MW AC.
The Architecture Review Committee (ARC) got an inquiry about the possiblity of mounting solar vertically on south-facing walls (without windows). This could be a sheer flush-mounted solar PV array immediately against the wall. The PVs would not produce as much energy as a roof-top array, but there could be fewer issues with rooftop penetrations, etc. The ARC noted that there is not a specific policy about this idea yet, and they would willing to work with the idea on installation on a case by case, building by building basis, at least until there is a comprehensive policy in place.
For a given capacity of PV modules, a vertical wall will harvest 78% of the energy that a flat roof would, and 67% of the energy that could be harvested at a 40 degree tilt. While this is not ideal, the costs may be lower and the maintenance and roof loading concerns would not pertain. Two possible candidates are the south wall of NSRC (which has no windows in the "central" part) and the south facade of the Tryon Festival Theater in Krannert, which is actually somewhat tilted
To fund solar panels, there could be a Solar Donor program. Tom Abram, previous F&S Sustainability Coordinator, wrote about the concept in 2009 (see file).
