Student-funded solar project gets expansion at UToledo

The University of Toledo just expanded a solar array near its Health Science campus, funded in part by students themselves. Since 2017, students have paid an optional $5 sustainability fee each semester through the Student Green Fund, which has backed campus green projects. The fund put $350,000 toward the first 330-kilowatt phase of the solar project, finished in 2020, and has now added $530,000 for a 420-kilowatt expansion, bringing the total project to 750 kilowatts.

Both phases use thin-film solar panels made by First Solar, a company with roots in Toledo dating back to the late 1990s. The panels are cadmium telluride, or CdTe, a thin-film technology more commonly used in large utility-scale solar farms but increasingly showing up in smaller, distributed projects like this one. The first phase used First Solar's Series 5 panels; the new expansion uses the newer Series 6 Plus.

For homeowners, this isn't a program you can apply to or a rebate you can claim. It's a university project showing how thin-film solar technology, largely developed and manufactured near Toledo, is expanding beyond giant solar farms into smaller installations. The university says the array will also generate research data for students and support the local power grid. UToledo and the Student Green Fund are now discussing a possible third phase.