UTSA Installation of Distributed Solar Energy Resources

The installation of three distributed solar energy resources across both the 1604 UTSA campus and UTSA downtown campus was a collabortive effort by the Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute, UTSA College of Engineering, Southwest Research Institute, and VI Design Group. The 313kW system was deployed on the roof tops of the 1604 campus Engineering Building (30kW), the University Center III building (140kW), and the downtown campus Durango building (141kW).  The solar installation totals 1228 solar panels, 21 inverters, 18 Smart combiner boxes, and a website to display a real-time monitoring system that allows researchers and students to study solar power, irradiance and variability. The goal is to reach an annual production of 242 mega-watt-hours of energy and generate a potential savings of $65,000 per year for UTSA.

To view our Solar Power Generation on Main Campus, follow the link below: 

http://texasenergy.utsa.edu/solar/microgrid/ 

This project was funding by a stimulus grant funded by the Department of Energy through the State Energy Conservation Office. 

High-Fidelity Multisite Distributed Solar-Farm Monitoring System

Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute Smart Grid Report (PDF)

UTSA Wins $1 Million in Stimulus Funding to Install Solar Energy on Campus

State Energy Conservation Office

Chris Fronda, VI Design Group

Brian Kelley, Ph.D., College of Engineering, UTSA

Hariharan Krishnaswami, Ph.D., College of Engineering, UTSA 

Mo Jamshidi, Ph.D., College of Engineering, UTSA

Juan Gomez, Ph.D., P.E., Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute

Gerardo Trevino, Southwest Research Institute

Rolando Vega, Ph.D., P.E., Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute