solar Articles | Joju Solar

February 22, 2024 In

Solar and Storage at the University of Wales Trinity St David

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) declared a climate emergency in 2019 and is dedicated to creating a community which supports sustainability through social, economic, cultural, and environmental responsibility.

Sustainable development is one of the University’s values, with staff and students working together to have “a positive impact on people, communities and the planet”. This multi-campus centre of learning holds Level 5 of the Green Dragon Environmental Standard and there has also been significant financial investment in solar and storage so the University can generate its own clean, green energy. To this end, Joju Solar has been working on bringing solar and battery storage to two buildings on the Swansea campus, changing the way the buildings generate and store power.

It takes two…

On the College of Art’s Dynevor building, at the heart of the city’s arts quarter, we’ve installed a 130kWh Pixii battery alongside 150 kWp of PV, using Canadian Solar 380Wp panels and a Solis inverter.

We’ve also installed a 42kWh Victron battery with 80 kWp of solar on the Technium 2 building at the Swansea campus. Again, we used Canadian Solar 380Wp panels and a Solis inverter.

In terms of selecting the kit, half hourly data was used to specify batteries that best matched the excess generation of the PV systems. The panels and inverters were chosen based on a mix of quality and cost.

Battery benefits

The solar PV generates electricity which can either be used immediately, or stored in the battery for when the buildings need it the most. There’s a mixed level of demand in both buildings as being a base of education, the buildings aren’t as well-populated over the weekend. It therefore makes sense to store the self-generated energy during those periods for use when footfall is greater.

Savings to celebrate

The systems will contribute Co2 savings of approximately 41.5 tonnes a year, supporting the University’s climate commitments. There will also be significant financial savings across both buildings. These are estimated at around £37,000 a year on the basis of a 22p per unit electricity price and the systems generating around 200,000 kwh a year with the batteries using 85% of that.

And there’s more…

We’ve also installed 22.8kWp of solar on a third building, Technium 1. With sixty 380Wp panels and a Solis inverter, the system is estimated to save 4.44 tonnes of Co2 a year. .

Ed Baughan, Joju’s Head of Commercial Solar said:

“Our team is delighted to work with UWTSD to help them realise their sustainability ambitions. At the heart of everything we do is our mission of cutting carbon, so it’s great to install the technology that helps the university reduce its carbon footprint and create greater energy self-sufficiency, whilst making financial savings too”.

A sustainability hero

When it comes to its students, UWTSD encourages everyone to “Become the hero of your own story” by “creating the education experience you’ve always wanted”. By making a real commitment to cutting carbon, the university is becoming the hero of its own sustainability story too – taking positive strides towards a green future and leading by example.

Joju is proud to be working with UWTSD and we relish the supporting role we’re able to play in their story of environmental responsibility.

Oxfordshire’s carbon-cutting nine

The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures. It’s designed to encourage green investment and support clean growth goals, alongside thousands of jobs in the low carbon and energy efficiency sectors.

As part of the scheme, Oxfordshire County Council secured grant funding and engaged Ameresco to carry out an assessment on a selection of council assets – looking at how to improve energy efficiency. Part of the assessment included the design and installation of renewables, and we were subsequently approached back in 2021 to help nine sites reduce their carbon footprint and become more energy self-sufficient.

Making a difference across a mix of sites

The nine sites our Joju Solar team worked on across the county included two fire stations, five schools, and two community centres. The focus was on cutting carbon by generating solar energy, as well as giving the sites the option to store any excess power in a battery. This way, the power could be used when the sites needed it the most and to help avoid any potential power cuts. We installed 245kWp of solar in total, and also fitted a Tesla Powerwall at every site, with the Abbey Centre doubling up on its battery power.

Nine times the carbon savings!

Since the installation, the sites have been saving approximately 43,107 KG of Co2 per year, contributing to the ongoing decarbonisation of the county, and helping to power the buildings with self-generated energy from the sun.

We thrive on supporting communities to generate and manage their own energy by ‘just adding sunshine’, and it was a pleasure to assist Oxfordshire County Council in meeting their ongoing sustainability ambitions.

Beautiful and powerful – Mike’s new build home

Our customer, Mike, originally contacted us with architects plans for a new build house. He wanted the house to be highly energy efficient… generating its own power without this negatively impacting on the character and aesthetic of his soon-to-be-built home.

Back to black

We loved working with Mike to bring this vision to life and as solar tiles weren’t widely available at the time of install, and there were technical constraints with the products too, we specified all black solar panels built into the roof.

The all black panels have a black frame, black mono crystalline cells, and a black back-sheet with a neat finish, blending particularly well with dark slate and whilst there is a slight additional cost when compared to traditional on-roof solar, savings are made by not having to install slates and tiles where the panels are located.

We worked with Mike’s main contractor and roofer to complete this solar installation and in terms of the look for Mike’s new home, the panels worked perfectly.

As Mike says,

“We selected the black panels largely for the aesthetics and, given that we were building a new house, it made no sense to put a roof covering on and then put the panels on top… may as well make the panels be the roof covering. It integrates with the house much better”.

Never a truer word, we say!

Panel power

Well, the aesthetic is certainly attractive, but what about the solar generation?

As Mike tells us,

“We can get over 30kWh on really sunny days. In 2021 to date, we have had 3253hWh. We have battery storage now too and our electricity bill is less than £50 per month, which isn’t bad for an electric only house and two electric cars”.

Not bad indeed!

A great experience

Here’s to architecture that not only looks beautiful, but that also definitely generates the power and here’s to a great solar installation experience all round. Jon, our Head of Residential Solar, led the project and as Mike says,

“It was a really good experience, easy, and Jon was great. He did what he said, when he said he would”.

We can’t say fairer than that!

Find out more

Check out some of our other residential case studies here

Discover how to get the most from your solar

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