This article was originally published by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
It’s an accomplishment that many academic institutions would envy: The University of Queensland, in northeastern Australia, generates more electricity than it uses each year from its own renewable-energy assets.
“We’re developing new tools and techniques, and new solutions to help power utilities and solar farm owners as well as other stakeholders,” says power-systems expert Professor Tapan Saha, who is among the researchers leading the efforts.
Last year, UQ opened its $A125-million (about $US94-million), 64 megawatt Warwick Solar Farm. Its array of 200,000 solar panels will output about 160 gigawatt hours of energy each year, more than enough to power 25,000 households or reduce coal consumption by 60,000 tons.
