Nust embarks on solar project
THE National University of Science and Technology (Nust) has embarked on a solar power project that will see the university being able to generate 7MW of electricity.
The institution has not quantified the exact amount it will spend to complete the project but has highlighted that the first phase will cost $300 000.
Nust director of communication and marketing, Mr Felix Moyo, said the university has already availed seven hectares of land for the project.
“The university has set aside seven hectares of land for the project. Apparently, we can generate about one megawatt per hectare and at full utilisation of the seven hectares we will be generating seven megawatts when currently 0.25 megawatts will suffice for our needs during daytime,” said Mr Moyo.
He said the solar plant would be constructed in phases and the first phase would address the day time electricity needs of the university.
“At phase one, we will generate 0,25 megawatts. This amount of power will be enough for our current daytime requirements. This will totally eliminate the need for us to take any power from the national grid during the day. Plans are afoot to expand the plant,” Mr Moyo said.
He said Nust was depending on a ‘dedicated power supply line’ from Zesa costing the university substantial amounts of money.
Mr Moyo said Nust would sell excess power for the solar plant to generate income for the university.
“It will cost $300 000 to install phase one that will generate the 0.25 megawatts. It is important to note that currently, the university is on a dedicated power line and is therefore drawing electricity at a premium from the national grid. This is expensive. All this cost will fall away every day during daytime hours and will translate into huge savings,” said Mr Moyo.
“Our plans to set up a solar plant to generate electricity for self consumption and possibly to sell to other consumers are quite advanced. Obviously, while we save on electricity on the one hand, we will also generate revenue by selling the electricity to other consumers on the other.”
BY Nqobile Tshili
