"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." These words of famous basketball star, Michael Jordan, rang true when the North-West University (NWU), together with SUNfarming, a solar energy company, came out tops at the recent Intersolar Awards that were held in Europe.
The Intersolar AWARD is presented each year by the organisers of Intersolar in cooperation with international industry associations, to give solar companies a unique platform to distinguish themselves from the competition and prove just how innovative they really are.
The collaboration between the two organisations saw them win in the Outstanding Solar Projects category for their SUNfarming Food and Energy Training Project.
The judges were especially impressed by the project’s global development potential, its great social benefits and the project’s ability to create employment.
For the project SUNfarming joined forces with the NWU to build 15 agro-solar greenhouses on the NWU’s campus in Potchefstroom, showing how photovoltaics are integrated into the agro-solar substructures of large food and energy systems.
With the NWU’s professional knowledge and SUNfarming’s technology, they were able to prove that economically attractive and resource-efficient food and energy production can be successfully managed in one location.
A total of 133 projects from 21 countries took part in the overall competition.
