Bagley Outdoor Classroom
The Bagley Outdoor Classroom has 28 solar panels, arranged in 2 rows of 14 panels each, and was installed in 2010. The installation was expected to reduce the building’s non-renewable energy needs to almost nothing over the course of a year, although in practice, the amount of energy generated is closer to 85% – 90% of the building’s needs.
Each of the 28 panels is a 200 watt Sanyo HIT Panel, for a total of 5600 watts (5.6 kWh) of capacity. These panels are tied into our utility grid, via a 6000w automatic voltage-sensing inverter, the Sunnyboy WebBox Sunny Boy 6000 US.
Although the building’s ultimate goal is to produce as much energy as it uses each year, we have yet to meet this “energy neutral” goal. The popular demand and special uses and equipment in the building have made this an extraordinary challenge. UMD tracks monthly energy production and energy use for the Bagley Outdoor classroom, as well as monitoring real-time use and production through an energy program (see a summary of Energy and Metering for Bagley Outdoor classroom, conducted by a supervisor in UMD Facilities Management in August 2012.)
Live data from the Bagley array is available here: https://scse.d.umn.edu/umd-solar/solar-data
If you'd like to use the space, UMD affiliates should contact the Office of the Registrar to book it at [email protected].