On Thursday 19 May 2011 the new PV device situated in the Pisa CUS area in Via Federico Chiarugi was inaugurated. It was donated to the University of Pisa by Mitsubishi Electric and was created through collaboration with the company Flyby and the 'Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di San Miniato'. Present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were the chancellor, Massimo Augello, the vice mayor, Paolo Ghezzi, the president of the Province, Andrea Pieroni, the President of Pisa CUS, Denny Innamorati, the Mitsibushi Electric Photosensitive Italian Branch division manager, Gualtiero Seva, and the general manager of 'Flyby srl', Emilio Simeone. Also present were the council-minister for socio-educational and scholastic policy, Marilù Chiofalo, the vice chancellor for building and construction, Sandro Paci, the administrative director of the University, Riccardo Grasso, and the energy manager of the University, Antonio Viti.
The new installation is part of a broader collaboration project between the University of Pisa and Mitsubishi Electric and comes after the creation of a 5kWp PV installation with fixed structure, installed in 2008 on the roof of the Aerospace Engineering Department. On the whole, the project sets out to create other PV diverse installations – monocrystalline, polycrstalline, amorphous, fixed or 'tracking' panels – for monitoring and analysing electric energy production over the course of a few years and for obtaining important information on the productivity of diverse types of panels in our geographical area. The objectives are: 1) to contribute to the safeguarding of the environment thanks to the employment of solar energy, 2) spread the culture of renewable sources and therefore 3) contribute to a more sustainable society.
Mitsubishi Electric has always been interested in promoting environment sustaining projects- in the first place the program for long term environmental management called: 'Environmental Vision 2021' which aims to obtain significant and specific results in this field by the year 2021 – the centenary year of the company's foundation.
The installation inaugurated at the CUS centre consists of two bi-axle trackers which guarantee optimisation of the panels' surfaces with respect to solar direction. This type of installation has around a 30% higher electric production compared to a type with fixed corners. Sixteen PV modules in 185Wp polycrystalline silicon were installed upon two trackers thus creating a nominal total power of 2.96 kWp. The surface occupied is 7x20 metres, including the distance of around 12 metres between the trackers allowed for so as to avoid having shadows between the two installations during an entire day.
The structure of Via Chiarugi has already allowed the avoidance of emissions of around 3,400 kg. Of CO2 into the atmosphere: saving such a large quantity of carbon dioxide is the same as having planted a wood of more than 5,000 square metres. The PV installation enjoys an exchange with the electric grid ENEL and, since it is a non-integrated system applied to a public structure, it has a contribution in energy cost of 0.41 Euros/kwh produced. Its annual productivity is around 4,6000 kWh , which all get absorbed by the CUS with an annual savings of around 2,000 Euros.
“This installation,” the Chancellor Massimo Augello said, “covers a small part of the energetic demands of the CUS, but its completion in a sports structure is an example of the attention the University of Pisa is dedicating to themes relating to the environment. And, furthermore, the CUS is frequented every day by hundreds of students doing sports. For this I wish to thank Mitsubishi Electric and the other partners who have made this achievement possible.”
“We are very happy to be at Pisa again to inaugurate an installation that produces clean energy,” declared Gualtiero Seva, Mitsubishi Electric PV Italian Branch division manager. “Collaboration between us and the University of Pisa initiated some years ago with the donation of this device from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, continues with this new creation and is destined to develop new important projects also in the future. Our objective, together with the University, is to help students and future energy managers familiarise themselves with photosensitive technology.”
“We are honoured that the University has chosen our centre for testing this new technology,” concluded the Pisa CUS president, Denny Innamorati. “This mirrors the young spirit, innovative mentality and desire for experimentation which we wish to bring to the CUS . It is not by chance that one of the missions of the new Executive Council, recently elected, is a new energy policy that contributes to the reduction of costs and noxious emissions. These installations are frequent not only because of the very large numbers of young university students, but also due to the thousands of children involved in our scholastic projects on the setting up of sports activities: a perfect alliance, therefore, between sport, clean energy and young generations.”