The construction of a pilot solar cell unit is promoted within the cooperation between the Government of St. Petersburg, the Limassol Municipality, the CUT and the ITMO University of St. Petersburg. The project will also join the Cypriot company GDL Green Energy Group. Efforts are being made as for the first phase of the project to be complete and functional in 2017.
The aim is to convert solar energy into electrical energy and then store it in the form of hydrogen, in order to be used at first as a vehicle fuel. Initially, the fuel will be used by a small number of vehicles owned by the Limassol Municipality and the CUT.
In particular, in the first phase a unit to convert solar energy into electricity (100 kW) and store into hydrogen form will be constructed. Later on, a unit of around 5MW of power will be constructed, to produce hydrogen as fuel for cars and for the production of electricity through hydrogen generators. The pilot unit will be built on land let by the Limassol Municipality.
As part of the implementation of the project, the establishment of a research laboratory for the study of hydrogen production, storage and its use for transportation and other applications has been agreed upon. At the same time, through the cooperation of the Optics Department of ITMO and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering and Informatics of the CUT, a joint graduate program specializing in nanotechnology of optic fibers will start running. The program will run from September 2017 and on.
