DELAWARE — Ohio Wesleyan University is capitalizing on the sun’s energy and available space on campus to reduce its reliance on fossil-fuel-generated energy.
Starting earlier this summer, crews began installing some of the 10,400 solar panels on ground-mounted arrays and parking lot canopies.
Once the project is complete, there will be solar panel canopies over six OWU parking lots and three ground-mounted panels on previously unused green space.
Senior Director of Facilities Services Daren Lehman estimated ground panel construction work is 95% complete. He anticipated installation of all panels will wrap up in February or March.
The panels will be online and operational by October 2027, at which point they will reduce carbon emissions associated with electrical power consumption on campus by 82%.
The locations of the panels were selected based on how much direct sun the area gets, the amount of tree cover and, for the ground panels, the usage of those former green spaces.
“We selected green spaces that we saw were not utilized a lot by students because of their locations,” Daren Lehman said.
The land under and around those ground panels will eventually become wildflower gardens filled with native Ohio species to attract pollinators and reduce mowing.
An ambitious project
When the project is complete, OWU officials claimed it will be the most ambitious carbon reduction and on-site solar energy project in Ohio’s higher education history.
The project required “zero capital outlay or borrowing from the university,” according to an OWU press release.
OWU is working with Illinois-based GRP|WEGMAN on the project, which specializes in renewable energy solutions and energy efficiency.
“This is really a micro grid kind of concept here, and there’s not very many of those, quite frankly, in the state of Ohio,” Vince Lehman, Director of Engineering for GRP|WEGMAN, said.
He added that OWU’s project is among their top 5% largest projects ever done.
“So instead of paying kilowatt per hour (kWh) to AEP, we’re going to pay kWh over the next 25 years to this LLC at a rate that covers the production of the power and the construction of the solar panels,” Daren Lehman explained. “In addition, there was also some deferred maintenance money that we built into that number.
“Then after 25 years, the solar field is ours. So at that point, we’ve paid for the solar field, we’ve paid for the maintenance.”
Solar panels will capture the majority of OWU’s energy, but the university will still rely on other sources for good reason.
“When you look at the capacity that the university utilizes, you don’t want to size the system to cover 100% of that capacity,” Vince Lehman said.
“Because if you do, you can overproduce electricity. And if you do that you’re basically paying for panels that you’re not using.”
So the university will still use energy from large batteries and AEP.
Daren Lehman said staying connected to AEP’s power grid is helpful for days when the panels don’t capture as much energy.
Vice President for Operational Excellence Dwayne Todd added that in the event of severe weather where a large amount of panels are damaged, the university will need to pull power from an alternate source.
With the solar system, OWU can also store solar panel energy to use during peak times, such as throughout the day, and use AEP’s supplied energy during non-peak nighttime hours when the rate is lower.
Why now?
OWU officials began discussing launching a solar power initiative in 2023.
Vince Lehman said solar energy has become increasingly popular in central Ohio within the last five to seven years.
Though most of the time solar panels usage is in smaller batches, he said.
Todd added that the demand for electricity in Delaware County has only gone up to match the pace of growth in business and housing, making solar energy a cheaper option in the long run.
Not only does it benefit the university, Todd said, but also because OWU will no longer draw as much power from AEP, it allows AEP to disperse that energy elsewhere.
This potentially delays AEP’s need to upgrade the power grid as more developments require energy.
The investment also aligns with one of the university’s pillars — making a societal impact — and provides new hands-on learning opportunities for students, Todd said.
