By the end of 2018, Unicamp's Multidisciplinary Gymnasium will be able to be self-sufficient in electrical energy and, more than that, generate surplus energy to be used in other University buildings. This is thanks to the installation of panels to harness solar energy, which are included in the Sustainable Campus program. The third of a cycle of three lectures on the actions developed in the program was this Thursday, 15th, in the auditorium of the Unicamp School of Corporate Education (Educorp) with professor Marcelo Gradella Villalva, from the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering ( Feec).
Villalva is coordinator of the Photovoltaic Minigeneration subproject, which foresees not only the installation of systems for generating solar energy in the gym, but also in other units such as the Exploratory Science Museum, Institute of Geosciences (IG), Interdisciplinary Center for Energy Planning (NIPE) and Feec itself. The objective with the systems is to generate 2% of the electrical energy consumed today by the Campinas campus. In addition to energy generation, the program will allow several studies in the area of photovoltaic energy.
In the lecture he presented the different photovoltaic systems, spoke about the evolution in the number of individuals or legal entities that are already responsible for generating their own energy and recalled that Brazil's potential for generating solar energy is practically infinite. “If every Brazilian had a panel at home, we would already be exporting energy to the whole world”, joked the professor.
The coordinator of the Sustainable Campus program, Luiz Carlos Pereira, highlighted that the installation of photovoltaic panels is important, but that Unicamp needs to focus actions on combating electrical energy waste. According to him, the institution's annual consumption, on the Barao Geraldo campus, is around 25 million reais. Pereira added that the program has several actions in this regard, such as exchanging equipment and changes to measurement systems.
According to the coordinator, the implementation of solar energy systems is emblematic, however the university has the capacity to produce at least twenty times more solar energy than will be developed in this first project.
The Sustainable Campus program is a partnership between Unicamp and CPFL Energia. Launched at the end of March, it aims to establish an energy efficiency model at the institution. The financial investment will be R$ 9,5 million Reais, within the scope of the R&D (Research and Development) and PEE (Energy Efficiency Program) programs of ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency), see more details at page from the program. The lecture cycle is expected to resume in the second half of 2018.
Read other reports about the program:
Energy efficiency is discussed by an FCA expert
Sustainable Campus begins series of lectures on rational use of energy
