New Ajman school to run exclusively on solar power

Workers installing solar panels at Woodlem Park School in Ajman. The school, which will open in April, will emerge as an active partner in country's green initiatives, say promoters.

Ajman - The eco-friendly clean energy campus will acquaint students with latest technologies.

By VM Sathish

Published: Fri 17 Mar 2017, 8:22 PM

For the first time, a school in the UAE will be fully powered by solar panels that will also generate additional electricity to be given to the nation's electricity grid.
The eco-friendly clean energy campus will acquaint students with latest technologies, making them fit for taking up the future energy challenges.
Woodlem Park School is getting ready to start from the next academic year, according to Dr Sheikh Majid Al Nuaimi, partner of the school. Through the solar panel initiative, the school is emerging as an active partner in the country's green energy initiatives and serve an academic objective of demonstrating how the sun is used to generate electricity. The solar plant installed in the school is designed to produce all the power required for the school without depending on any other sources of energy.
The school built in a 3,50,000 square feet land in Al Jurf, Ajman, has 2,000 solar panels in the first phase and will have a total of 8,000 solar panels within the next three years. About 600 air conditioners, 20 centralised 40-tonne air conditioner units, 1,800 LED lights, 125 computers and 150 smart boards in the school will function with solar power, said Abdul Gafoor Thayyil, chief operating officer of the school.
Innovative solar technology panels like mono crystalline low light panels will be used to construct the power plant. "These panels work in extreme climatic conditions with high efficiency. A Germany-based solar company and the India-based HotPoint Green Energy Solutions have joined hands to establish the school power plant, said Dr P V Majeed, chairman of Dr Majeed Group, which is into solar energy projects. There is no recurring costs for maintaining the solar power plant.
"The school will be self-reliant in energy," added Dr Majid, who is also chairman of HotPoint. The Woodlem School has been successfully running in Kollam, Kerala and the Ajman school is a joint initiative of Dr Sheikh Majid Al Nuaimi and Al Mamzar Group.
"Getting electricity connection for new projects is difficult in Ajman and schools are banned from using generators for power supply. Therefore we have opted for a solar panel plant that can not only save Dh4.5 million initial investment needed to take electricity connection, but the monthly electricity bill between can also be saved," Gafoor said.
"The UAE has placed renewable energy and climate change high on its agenda, demonstrated through a variety of actions - Masdar Initiative, the Abu Dhabi green building code, (Etisdama) the World Future Energy Summit and the Zayed Future Energy Prize. "Woodlem Park initiative to power the school completely using sunlight is to participate in the green and clean energy initiatives of the country," Dr Majid said.
sathish@khaleejtimes.com