Solar Campus
Living Laboratory logo, project title and photograph of solar panel
SDG's 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, 4 - Quality Education, and 11- Sustainable Cities and Communities
The Solar Campus is a testing ground for the characterization, testing, and experimentation of solar energy systems under real-world conditions. To learn more about its history, projects, and activities, read this summary (2018).
A small open field until 2009, the Solar Campus now houses a diverse set of technological prototypes developed by companies, researchers, and science students, most notably the Solar Garden, a multidisciplinary project to study clean energy generation and food production involving the entire academic community. It is also a laboratory supporting Energy and Environment Engineering courses and the school's calling card, the first thing you see when visiting the Faculty of Sciences.
It includes a set of instruments for characterizing solar radiation and meteorological conditions on the CIÊNCIAS campus. The data is publicly available (requests to solar@ciencias.ulisboa.pt).
Solar Garden
Solar Campus
The Solar Campus of the Faculty of Sciences is always open for visits, rain or shine! Plan your visit!
Come and experience the academic environment of our faculty and participate in various activities about solar energy:
• Visit the Solar Campus of CIÊNCIAS and some innovative prototypes for harnessing solar energy;
• Visit to the largest urban photovoltaic power plant in the country - our rooftops;
• Solar car workshops with the Oficina das Energias group.
Choose the activities you would like to participate in and plan your visit with us.
The Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Ciências ULisboa) is a higher education institution of science and technology with a century of history. It was the first school in Portugal to offer a course in Energy and Environment Engineering, with a special emphasis on renewable energies and energy efficiency.
What is the Solar Campus? What are its objectives?
The Solar Campus is a testing laboratory for solar energy solutions on the campus of CIÊNCIAS. But it is much more than that! It is also a space for research, learning and communication of clean and renewable science and technologies for a better future.
Visits
Everyone is welcome to visit the Solar Campus, from school groups to individual participants.
In addition to visits to the Solar Campus, other activities related to solar energy can complement your visit to our facilities, allowing for a different learning experience and close involvement with the academic environment of our faculty.
Choose the activities you would like to do and plan your visit with us by email: solar@ciencias.ulisboa.pt
Visit the Solar Campus and some innovative prototypes for harnessing solar energy
Throughout this website you will find more information about what you can see up close on a guided tour of our solar campus.
Estimated duration: 30 minutes - this activity is weather dependent.
Visit to the largest urban photovoltaic power plant in the country - our rooftops
In 2013, the largest photovoltaic power plant in the city of Lisbon was installed on the roof of the University of Lisbon buildings. Besides the beautiful view over the Jardim do Campo Grande, we can appreciate the challenges and potential of urban rooftops for solar electricity production.
Estimated duration: 30 minutes - this activity is weather dependent.
Solar Car Workshops with the Oficina das Energias group
The Oficina das Energias group, composed of students from the Energy and Environment degree, teaches how to build solar cars from recycled cardboard and bottle caps. If the sun is shining, we can have races outside; if not, we'll use a projector to test the constructions. A fun way to learn how to harness solar energy to produce electricity.
Estimated duration: 30 minutes - the outdoor nature of this activity is weather dependent.
References about the project:
Article in Gazeta da Física, 2018: Um campus com energia solar
Master's theses - 2016, Inês Mendes, Avaliação do desempenho do sistema de minigeração fotovoltaico na Faculdade de Ciências
Coordinator: Miguel Centeno Brito
Project members: Dmitri Boutov, MSc and PhD students in Solar Energy
For more informations, please contact sustentabilidade@ciencias.ulisboa.pt.