TOLEDO — Students at the University of Toledo are powering up a new solar array on campus, paid for by a tuition add-on they voted to keep.
The university cut the ribbon Sept. 24 on a 420-kilowatt addition to a solar array near the UT Medical Center on the Health Science campus. The $530,000 expansion was funded entirely by the Student Green Fund, a committee of undergraduate and graduate students that manages an optional $5 per-semester tuition contribution started in 2017.
The new phase brings the campus solar project to 750 kilowatts total. The first 330-kilowatt phase, completed in 2020, also drew on the fund, with $350,000 in student money. Both phases use thin-film panels from First Solar, the Toledo-area company that grew out of Harold McMaster’s Solar Cells Inc. — First Solar donated Series 5 modules for phase one, while the new phase uses Series 6 Plus modules.
Student Green Fund money has also backed high-efficiency hand dryers and refillable water bottle stations around campus. University officials say the solar project is one of the largest student-led renewable energy efforts in Ohio.
