UCF Students Take on Floating Solar Grid

All it takes to successfully implement solar energy equipment is a solid plan, and five engineering students at the University of Central Florida have one such plan. Recently, the group launched a project that would act as a “proof of concept” for a large-scale solar project, and so far, the results have been impressive.

The idea is to convince the university to build a solar grid that provides enough energy to power UCF’s Bright House Networks Stadium. And these students are well on their way to doing that, it would seem. The initial project consists of 20 solar panels that were successfully built into a walkable, floating dock on a campus retention pond.

While these 20 panels are only currently tasked with powering the pond’s filtration system, the team who engineered the grid expects this will only make up one-hundredth of the fully scaled grid. Ultimately, the goal would be to generate up to one full megawatt of solar energy that could then be pumped into the university’s stadium.

This isn’t the first clean energy project UCF students have spearheaded on campus, and according to David Norvell, assistant vice president for Sustainability Initiatives at UCF, it certainly won’t be the last. It may seem far off, but Norvell has voiced expectations that the campus may be well on its way to meeting their 2050 goal of creating a climate neutral campus. That means no operations on campus will release harmful emissions, and with the use of enough solar energy installations, the University of Central Florida could be the first in the nation to be declared 100% clean in energy production and use.

These students’ “proof of concept” shows great promise for the future of energy on campus, and by giving purpose to a simple retention pond, UCF has proven once again that sustainability is attainable.