Photo Credit:
Luke Johnson/Tampa Tribune Staff

Grant to help USFSP produce, study solar power

Duke Energy’s generous $500,000.00 grant to University of South Florida St. Petersburg provides two primary benefits. The solar array will aid in solar energy production and students and researchers will be able to study solar power more closely.

A solar power storage project  will also play an affiliated role.

USFSP is the fourth institution to receive a SunSense grant from Duke. The company is excited about the partnership.

Another highlight of having the 100K array is  a reduction in the school’s electric  bill just as St. Petersburg College is expected to see.

The Tampa Tribune says:

.  . .The 100-kilowatt array will be installed atop the garage between 5th and 6th Aves. S, across from the University Student Center in a carport-style setting that will still allow the top floor to be used for parking.

“It certainly is a project that both Duke Energy and USF St. Petersburg can feel good about,” said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the utility. “We’re happy to partner with them.”

The Tampa Tribune explains Duke’s affilliated solar power storage project:

.

…“That’s one of the key issues in our industry right now,” said Ivey. “Everybody likes solar, but the big missing link right now is how to store the solar energy and export it to the electrical grid so that we can use it any time of the day or night, not only when the sun is shining best between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.”