HKUST announced its commitment to being a sustainability leader in Hong Kong in August 2020, by launching a renewable energy project that includes the installation of up to 8,000 solar panels at over 50 locations on campus. It aimed to be Hong Kong’s largest solar energy generation project when completed with panels across student and staff residences, academic and research blocks as well as sports and transport complexes.
The system is expected to generate up to 3 million units (kWh) of electricity each year - equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 900 three-member households in Hong Kong, and reduce 1.5 million kg of carbon emission per annum over a 25 year period. By joining CLP’s Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Scheme, the project will generate around $160 million up to the end of the FiT Scheme in 2033. After paying off the costs of the installation, HKUST will receive an average of $4 million per year that will be reinvested in further campus energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction projects. Part of the system will also be dedicated as a living laboratory for the University’s faculty and students to test out their ideas and projects related to solar energy systems.
This project was developed under the University’s sustainability strategic plan, the HKUST 2020 Sustainability Challenge set in 2016, where the university has been identifying large scale initiatives to reduce energy, greenhouse gases, and waste. Taking the opportunity of the FiT Scheme – which encourages the community to develop distributed renewable energy systems – HKUST has been installing thousands of best-in-class and highly-efficient monocrystalline solar panels, including both the conventional and flexible thin film PV panels.
As a higher education institute, we are not only striving to install more solar panels, but also actively searching for ground-breaking technologies that enhance the existing performance.
In May of 2023, Sustainable Smart Campus (SSC) fund approved 2 projects that are working on improving the efficiency of the solar panels. Both projects focus on cooling technology that is aimed to improve the efficiency of solar cells, leveraging the valuable knowledge of our researchers into our operation, and bringing a step forward to our net-zero goal.
The solar panels are currently being installed and HKUST is working with Widex Technology Development Limited on developing a phase II renewable project that includes non-traditional locations and building integrated technologies.
To increase HKUST members’ environmental awareness and their understanding of renewable energy and sustainable development, HKUST will set up an innovative education center to showcase different types of solar panels and other new technologies such as insulation coating and solar cells. Dashboards will also be accessible by mobile phones to show real-time energy data generated across the campus. The center will also serve as a platform to engage HKUST members for interaction and collaboration. For instance, for demonstration from project teams of the SSC initiative.