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Lublin University of Technology will produce electricity thanks to photovoltaic panels, which will gradually appear on its roofs, and in the future on the façades of the university buildings and green areas.

– The use of alternative energy sources by universities is now a necessity. We want our campus to be an example for others in the field of renewable energy sources - emphasizes Prof. Zbigniew Pater, rector of Lublin University of Technology.

The university is just finishing the first stage of the investment to install photovoltaic modules on its roofs. As the rector points out, this action is related to the trend of reducing energy consumption. – The act on special solutions for the protection of electricity consumers imposed i.a. the obligation for universities to take action aimed at reducing electricity consumption by 10 percent. Taking into account the high costs of energy consumption, we decided to increase the number of photovoltaic installations on our campus. We carried out a comprehensive analysis taking into account the insolation of the buildings as well as energy consumption on individual days, and we selected places where the panels could be installed - says Prof. Pater.

This year, modules with a capacity of up to 50 kWp each were installed on 3 facilities: the canteen, the rector's office and the Center for Innovation and Advanced Technologies. – All these buildings have a very high energy demand of around 400-500 MWh/year, so the energy produced from such installations will practically be fully consumed. We estimate that the savings will be at the level of 15-20% annually - announces Dr. Krystian Cieślak from the Faculty of Environmental Engineering.

This is another pro-ecological investment of the university, because this year an energy storage facility was placed next to the Center for Innovation and Advanced Technologies.

– We store energy for the current needs of the building. At the moment, we are working in the mode of "switching" energy between night and day, that is, we are on a night tariff, charging the energy store, and discharging it during the day. Having an energy store and a photovoltaic installation, we are able to almost zero the building, which means that it does not consume energy from the grid - emphasizes Karol Fatyga, MSc. from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

This is not the end of the university's investment in green energy. – We are planning to install photovoltaic installations on the walls of buildings and in green areas. This will require additional actions. We have to renovate the facades of our facilities, and in some cases even change the insulation. We are also thinking about another energy storage, this time for 2.5 MW, which would be connected to the electrolyser. Then we could produce green hydrogen - informs the rector.