A $1 million grant has been awarded to USF St. Petersburg from Duke Energy’s SunSense program. The grant will go towards a new solar panel, which will be installed on the top floor of the parking garage on 5th Avenue S., and to cutting edge research about battery stored energy.
After two consecutive years of failing bids, the university’s sustainability coordinator, Jennifer Winter, has spent the last year putting together a new proposal for the grant. She was determined to make sure all components were met.
The grant is a part of a study that will research how much electricity can be stored in the battery, and how well it will operate. USF Tampa’s College of Engineering will be partnering with USFSP to conduct the research for Duke Energy.
“Hopefully we can get the power during the day when the sun is out, and then store it in the battery to use at night,” Winter said. “Our plan, with help from the LED lights we just put in, is to get the garage to net zero.”
A net zero building means that the amount of energy the building uses is equal to the amount of energy it generates.
This is Duke Energy’s fourth and final year granting SunSense to higher level institutions. SunSense has granted similar solar panel structures to the University of Central Florida, University of Florida and St. Petersburg College. USFSP came in second place last year to St. Petersburg College.
Daniel McGarigal, a senior at USFSP majoring interdisciplinary social science, believes two of the main reasons the university lost last year was due to lack of student involvement and curriculum.
“I knew that was something I could help with,” McGarigal said.
McGarigal, who has been involved with this project for more than two years, contacted professors from all three colleges and received back roughly 12 letters of intent stating that professors would include the solar panels into their curriculum. The new solar panel will also become part of the campus tour.
Combined effort from Winter, students such as McGarigal and other faculty, turned the project into a success.
“There are no parking garages in the city that creates as much energy as it utilizes,” McGarigal said. “So this will be a first.”
Construction for the solar panel will be starting around the beginning of November, according to Jim Grant, the university construction project manager.
“Everything will be in place and operational by end of the year,” Grant said. “There are a lot of different things that happen at different times.”
Winter has placed a bid for an online dashboard, which will allow students and faculty to monitor the energy usage and storage from a computer. A kiosk, which will contain the dashboard, is also planned to be installed in the elevator lobby on the first floor of the parking garage.
When the actual construction of the solar panel begins in November, which will cause the entire top floor of the parking garage to be closed down for a week. This has caused a concern on where student residents will be able to park, which has posed a problem for both student residents and commuters this semester. An alternative for parking during the week of construction is being planned by university administration.
The solar panel will not take up any parking spots on the top floor once construction is complete. It will be installed over the ramp, and will be high enough that cars will have room to park under the panels that extend over parking spots.
The solar panel installation and storage research is hoped to help USFSP become recognized as one of the top green schools nationwide.
“We are super excited for sustainability on campus,” Winter said. “ This is a huge step forward for our university.
