Author

Yatindra Kumar Ramgolam

Title

The Innovative Solar Energy Laboratory (i-SOL) Launched At The University Of Mauritius

News

As countries, including Mauritius, are planning ahead for economic recovery, increasing the use of Renewable Energy (RE) is being prioritized to meet energy demand, drive employment opportunities and meet climate targets.  The Government of Mauritius is taking the commitment to meet 60% of the country’s need in energy with green sources by 2030 with rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) as a key technology contributing to the decarbonization process. This will create employment opportunities and capacity gaps must be addressed throughout the supply chain. At the level of the University of Mauritius (UoM), the Bachelor in Engineering Programmes have been formulated to build competences of graduates such that they may integrate the Renewable Energy (RE) value chain and contribute to the development of the sector locally. 

An Innovative Solar Energy Laboratory (i-SOL) has been developed at the Faculty of Engineering. This laboratory forms part of a long term project "Park of Excellence in Solar PV (PESP)" at UoM. PESP is a long term project that will make the University of Mauritius a global reference in terms of clean electricity use, develop capabilities and experts to support photovoltaic (PV) education, research, innovation and development (E,R,I&D) and hence contributes towards economic and societal development locally and internationally.

With the aid of the equipment, a number of experiments and demonstrations may be performed. They include:

• ·        Measurement of short circuit current and open circuit voltages of PV modules and strings.
• ·        Investigation of impact of weather conditions on electrical characteristics of PV technologies.
• ·        Investigation of operation of charge controllers.
• ·        Investigation of charge and discharge cycle of batteries.
• ·        Investigation of operation of inverters.
• ·        Installation and safety requirements in PV systems.
• ·        Demonstration of installation of PV systems and their balance of system equipment.
• ·        Measurement of solar related parameters.

 i-SOL kits and data are accessible via online platforms and may be remotely accessed from anywhere across the globe.

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