The University of the Sunshine Coast will save millions of dollars – and thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions – after installing 6000 rooftop solar panels and a giant water battery.
The installation is designed to reduce USC’s reliance on grid power by about 40%.
Students and staff driving in to the Sippy Downs campus will be able to park underneath the solar panels installed across several car parks.
“For a regional university to be leading the way on this is proof that we don’t need to be in the big cities to be taking big strides in new ideas in renewables, and for us that’s very exciting,” USC Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Hill.
“This technology has the potential to change the way energy is stored at scale and we are hoping other organisations take inspiration and indeed copy us.
“The team behind this is already sharing the technology with schools, universities and companies around the world.
“At the same time, USC is using the technology to teach student engineers, designers and leaders of the future, while staff and students are able to track our energy savings through real-time monitoring across the campus.”
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