Lindi Goba
The North-West University’s (NWU) Potchefstroom campus will install a new central air con system on the campus. This follows frequent power outages from the country’s primary electricity supplier during the months of February and March.
This will be part of a strategy to reduce costs of the backup energy supply involved in keeping the generators on.
Ivan Taylor, manager of Engineering Compliance, said the university air cons are the most power sensitive when compared to other electrical appliances on campus.
“The electrical maintenance team is currently connecting all air cons to ensure that they are operated from one place. By making such a change, generators can work at optimal level and the diesel generated energy can be used sparingly,” he said.
A central air conditioning system on campus will mean that all operations of the air conditioners will be controlled from a control room during power outages. In other words, no one else will be able to adjust the temperatures from any point.
Engineering Compliance is a company outsourced by the Electrical and Electronic services department on campus.
“The focus of this department is to be of service to the university in such a way that the total life cycle cost of electrical and electronic systems are kept as economically viable as possible and that the activities that they are involved in are in the best interest of the university,” said Danie Stoop, Head of the Electrical and Electronic Services at NWU.
The NWU has invested substantially in standby generators to keep the academic activities as normal as possible and the lights on for students in residences during power outages. While the generators have provided a solution for normal day-to-day activities the university incurs excessive costs to keep them on during load shedding periods.
Warren Kukaras from the university’s Physical Infrastructure and Planning department said he could not share how much the university was spending to keep the generators on, as this by policy, is confidential information.
He confirmed, however, that the university spends what he described as an “enormous” amount to keep the generators on and to maintain them.
“As a department, we are aware that such financial costs to keep the generators functional are not financially sustainable and this is why some changes will have to be made especially as we anticipate more periods of load shedding,” Kukaras added.
According to the power supplier, the periods of load shedding are necessary to protect the country from experiencing a total electricity blackout and more can be anticipated.
The lack of power supply has crippled businesses in South Africa. Organisations that rely primarily on electricity for production have experienced severe pressure from competitors forcing some to consider using generators and other alternatives for power supply.
The university has initiated a campaign to raise awareness called “Flip the Switch”. The campaign was initiated on the three campuses of the NWU during March 2019 with the goal of creating awareness about energy consumption and the impact it has on the environment.
Through this awareness programme the university will not only motivate the NWU community to save energy but it also creates the platform and opportunity for students and staff members to start making a sustainable difference.
The “Flip the Switch” campaign provides an educational platform on energy consumption, actively interacts with NWU students and staff so as they remain aware of energy consumption on each campus and address energy sustainability challenges at the NWU.
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