A local school recently received a 7.5 kW solar plant system which will save the school over R20 000 in electricity bills per year.
This is according to Prof Thinus Booysen, chairperson of Stellenbosch University’s (SU) faculty of engineering’s electrical and electronic department’s internet of things division.
The solar panels on top of Cloetesville Primary School were officially handed over to the school on 12 August and will save the school over R20 000 in annual electricity bills, according to Prof Thinus Booysen, chairperson of Stellenbosch University’s faculty of engineering’s electrical and electronic department’s internet of things division. PHOTO: Supplied/Prof Thinus Booysen
Dr Leslie van Rooi, SU’s senior director of social impact and transformation, and Alex Hall, principal at Rhenish Primary School, handed over the solar plant to Rodger Cupido, the principal of Cloetesville Primary School, on 12 August.
The solar panels were sponsored by SU’s division of social impact and transformation and Rhenish Primary School, who originally received them from Kigeni, a renewable energy infrastructure company and SU, said Booysen.
SU’s faculty of engineering and the social impact and transformation division ran a campaign in 2021 where they replaced the lights of 21 schools with solar panels to reduce their electricity expenses and carbon footprint, stated Booysen. Rhenish Primary was part of this campaign, of which Cloetesville Primary is now the newest addition, explained Booysen.
Pictured above from left to right: Salie Abrahams, the deputy director-general at the Western Cape Education Department, Dr Leslie van Rooi, Stellenbosch University’s (SU) senior director of social impact and transformation, Prof Saartjie Grobbelaar, from SU’s department of industrial engineering, Rodger Cupido, principal of Cloetesville Primary School, Dr Jason Samuels managing director at GreenX Engineering, Alex Hall, principal of Rhenish Primary School and Prof Thinus Booysen, chairperson of SU’s faculty of engineering’s electrical and electronic department’s internet of things division. PHOTO: Micaleb Lawrence
“We are privileged to have installed our own solar plant this year with a 22 kW inverter, which saves us 42 MW hours per year,” said Hall.
Making the green school greener
“We have an opportunity here to educate our learners with these green initiatives and being sustainable in providing electricity for ourselves,” stated Cupido. “At the end of the day, we are also able to save on our municipal bills.”
An important part of the campaign is to ensure that the learners continue to learn in classrooms where the lights are bright enough to concentrate, explained Dr Jason Samuels, the managing director at GreenX Engineering. Samuels’ PhD research focused on energy saving costs in schools, he explained.
Pictured above is Dr Jason Samuels [left], managing director at GreenX Engineering, and Salie Abrahams [right], deputy-director general at the Western Cape education department. “It is an honour to be on the grounds where the practices are manifesting,” said Abrahams on attending the handover of the solar plant system at Cloetesville Primary School. PHOTO: Micaleb Lawrence
“This [campaign] is perceived to be immediately valuable,” said Salie Abrahams, deputy-director general at the Western Cape education department (WCED). With this campaign, schools can help address the national energy crisis and educate their communities on energy saving techniques, claimed Abrahams.
Fostering partnerships
“[GreenX Engineering] is in talks with the University [SU] and the WCED to roll this out on a larger scale to other schools,” according to Booysen.
The next step is to involve the department of basic education and possibly the department of education to empower schools to solve the energy crisis and assist the education system with financial constraints, he added.
“We have an opportunity here to educate our learners with these green initiatives and being sustainable in providing electricity for ourselves. At the end of the day we are also able to save on our municipal bills,” stated Rodger Cupido, principal of Cloetesville Primary School. PHOTO: Micaleb Lawrence