Approximately one year ago, a trained team of students and faculty from the College of Engineering & Science and School of Architecture installed seven 20-feet by 20-feet solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of the Engineering Building. Since coming online, the system has generated over 7,000 kilowatt hours of electricity.

Some of the solar power team at the Engineering Building display.

"Based on this, the 10,000 kilowatt hours per year we had estimated looks attainable," says Mechanical Engineering Professor Mark Schumack, one of four principal investigators on the project.  "This is approximately the energy required to run the computers in the Engineering PC lab." 

To celebrate the achievement, UDM President Gerard Stockhausen, S.J., E&S Dean Leo Hanifin, Schumack and others participated in a dedication ceremony, Oct. 20. Representatives of United Solar Ovonic of Auburn Hills, MI, which designed and made the system, and the Michigan Energy Office made presentations. Schumack and E&S Professor Robert Ross discussed energy issues and solar photovoltaics. Student project leaders Dave Chew, Krysten Dzwigalski, James Hadley, Chris Keimig, Mehgann Mouylanis and Tim Rourke were recognized.

Objectives of the project are:

• to demonstrate that photovoltaic solar energy generation can be seamlessly incorporated into existing architecture and
• to educate a wide-ranging target audience about the technology.

A display in the Engineering Building lobby explains solar photovoltaic principles and demonstrates real-time electrical power production from the array of rooftop panels.

"The photovoltaic system converts sunlight to electricity, producing power on both sunny and cloudy days. Electricity from the solar cells feed directly into the Engineering Building's electrical system, offsetting its commercial electrical consumption," explains Schumack.

In addition to Schumack and Ross, investigators are E&S Associate Dean Arthur Haman and Associate Professor of Architecture Will Wittig. The State of Michigan Energy Office issued the $53,000 grant for the system, with funds coming from the U.S. Department of Energy.

With the solar energy project successfully under way, weather data is being analyzed to determine if a wind electrical generation system is feasible for UDM.