Workers from Price Electric installed solar panels Sept. 1 on the new Seamans Center south annex  roof. The 233-panel array will produce 65.5 kW of power for the College of Engineering's new addition. The feed-in system supplies power directly to the building and does not utilize battery storage. The array could supply at least 20 percent of the annex's power at peak demand, and could supply even more power at times depending on demand and output.

After the College of Engineering takes possession of the annex Oct. 5, further testing will be done on the panels. Fatima Toor, assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering will gather to gather data from some of panels for her research on solar cells.

The $285,347 solar project is part of the College's plan to seek LEED Platinum or Gold certification for the 65,000 square-foot annex, which will be formally dedicated in April.

Photos courtesy of The University of Iowa, Office of Strategic Communication © 2017 The University of Iowa, all rights reserved.