UA News

The first, and largest, project to mount photovoltaic and solar thermal collectors atop five campus buildings is rapidly nearing completion.

Most of the steel framework and some photovoltaic solar panels have already been installed atop the Second Street Garage on The University of Arizona campus. Ralph Banks, assistant director of Planning, Design and Construction, said the roof of the garage should reopen to vehicle traffic by the Aug. 24 start of the fall semester.

Once the structure and panels are in place, electricians will wire the panels together and connect them to the University's electrical system.

The garage is the first of five UA buildings that will sport rooftop panels. The panels will generate either electricity or hot water for the buildings where they will be located. The roughly 200 kilowatts of electricity produced by the panels on the garage will go toward powering that building's operations.

Any excess power will be channeled into the University's electric grid for use elsewhere on campus.

Banks said 200 kilowatts would power about 50 homes.

Four other buildings are slated to have solar panels. McClelland Hall and McClelland Park will be fitted with electricity-producing photovoltaic panels. The Hillenbrand Aquatic Center and the Student Recreation Center will get solar thermal panels to generate hot water for their swimming pools and showers.   

This combination of photovoltaic and solar thermal generation is unique on this scale, according to Banks. And the approximately 500 kilowatts of electricity generated on campus will reduce the UA's carbon footprint by an estimated 2,200 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.

While the structural features of the Second Street Garage project have been coming together at a rapid pace, Leonard Byrd, the project development manager for APS Energy Services, said it's taken the better part of six months to plan for this phase.

That included a structural analysis to make sure the garage could accommodate the additional steel and concrete that support the panels.

Byrd said APS Energy Services will own and operate the systems and the UA will buy their output. The technology behind the project is all "tried and true," Byrd said. 

"It doesn't change the cost, just what the source is. Whether they're buying gas from SW Gas, electricity from TEP, the objective is trying to get a ballpark price but with green energy, which is a pretty unique opportunity, anything we can do to that provides a positive long-term environmental benefit," he said.

Byrd said what made the project possible was a combination of utility company incentives and tax credits that combined to lower costs down to the point where the UA could generate its own power as cost effectively as buying it on the market.

When the UA and APS Energy Services announced the project on April 22, President Robert Shelton said the long-term goal was for the University to generate 40 percent of its own power. 

Not every rooftop on campus is a candidate for solar panels, though, at least not with the current level of technology. The Student Union Memorial Center, for instance, has a large, flat roofline that could hold hundreds of panels. But the Administration Building just to the east would shade the center for a significant part of the morning.

Banks said the first phase of the project will offer a chance to test the technology and evaluate the data.

"We're seeing this as baby steps toward a much larger picture. The UA is a research university and we want to lead by example," Banks said

A Webcam mounted on the Administration Building offers real-time views of the project, and the images taken over the course of construction will eventually be turned into a video.