Measures taken by Stellenbosch University (SU) during lockdown, reduced the amount of electricity required by an additional 16%, relative to typical December holidays.
This was according to dr Frank Duvenhage, business development and engineering manager at Bluedust Engineering Solutions.
“The consumption [of electricity] at SU’s main campus [during lockdown] was reduced from around 1 million kWh [kilowatt hours] per week to almost half a million kWh per week,” said Duvenhage, who compiled a report for SU drawing comparisons between electricity usage during December and lockdown.
According to Duvenhage, this is largely due to SU Facilities Management’s approach in ensuring that the electrical loads are reduced at large building-services plants prior to lockdown implementation.
“The graph compares this reduction [during lockdown] to the typical reduction in [electricity] consumption during the December period, when the campus is similarly less occupied because of the educational holidays,” said dr Frank Duvenhage, business development and engineering manager at Bluedust Engineering.
SU pays approximately R110 million per year for electricity alone and it is one of the largest expenses for SU Facilities Management, according to Nadeem Gafieldien, director of property services at SU.
Loadshedding
According to Gafieldien, for every four hours of load shedding, SU pays approximately R75 000 for the 5 000 litres of diesel required to operate campus generators during that period.
With 32 permanent generators and 9 that are rented by SU, the overheads, additional maintenance and labour costs associated with operating and filling generators with diesel, is “quite an expensive exercise and unsustainable solution”, said Gafieldien.
The savings on electricity costs, given the reduced student population, outweighs the additional costs of diesel that’s incurred for generators during recent loadshedding periods, said John de Wet, environmental sustainability manager at SU Facilities Management.
Lockdown showed significant reductions in SU’s electricity and fuel usage, said De Wet.
1 out of the 9 temporary generators at Stellenbosch University. It is situated behind the RW Wilcocks building, between Admin A and Admin B, on Stellenbosch University’s main campus. PHOTO: Danny-B Smith
A more environmentally sustainable campus
The implementation of a microgrid – an electrical infrastructure project – was set to be rolled out by SU Facilities Management in the second semester, Gafieldien said. However, lockdown resulted in a three-month delay for its implementation, he said.
SU has a sustainability strategy that details targets for SU to meet within the next 5 years, said De Wet.
The microgrid, which falls under SU’s sustainability strategy, is aimed at consolidating various electricity output points, said Gafieldien.
The microgrid will replace all generators with three generators at a substation on the corner of Hammanshand and Joubert Streets, he added.
SU will implement its own infrastructure with cables and hardware to produce the microgrid, said De Wet.
Emergency power will also be provided to the whole campus, including buildings that had no or limited emergency power during loadshedding, Gafieldien explained. This will result in significant savings on diesel, maintenance of the existing ageing equipment, as well as SU’s carbon footprint, he said.
De Wet said that when the sustainability strategy is fully implemented, it would result in a similar reduced environmental footprint as during lockdown.