World's Largest Solar Roof To Power High Speed Rail Station in China

Efficiency abounds in China as the world’s largest building integrated photovoltaic project prepares to power the railway station where some of the world’s fastest high speed trains pass through. China Sunergy, a solar cell and module manufacturer based in Nanjing, China, has recently signed a deal with CEEG (Nanjing) Solar Energy Research Institute to supply the 7MW solar modules for the Nanjing South Railway Station. When it’s finished, the Nanjing South Railway Station will be one of the most energy efficient public buildings in China.

Solar Powered Nanjing South Railway Station

Mr. Stephen Zhifang Cai, CEO of China Sunergy said of the BIPV project, “We are very happy to see our high-quality solar panels being used in this landmark project, which will certainly raise public awareness and appreciation of renewable energy. We look forward to playing an increasingly bigger role in building China’s eco-friendly projects.”

Solar Powered Shanghai Hongqiao Station

This isn’t the first evidence of China’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions and developing renewable energy. The Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station went on the grid in July 2010 with a 6.7 MW solar roof integrated into the building’s awnings. Yu Hailong, general manager of the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP), the project’s developer, said in July that the BIPV technology will “help stimulate the development of solar energy in China and promote the construction of more environmentally friendly railway stations”. Yes, his prediction is coming to fruition.

Meanwhile, here in the U.S., many of our railway stations have been destroyed or are wallowing in urban decay, such as the Michigan Central Station in Detroit.

Michigan Central Station in Detroit

Perhaps pictures such as this could inspire decision makers in Washington to take a few notes on China’s use of both renewable energy and efficient forms of transportation.

[Via: Clean Technica]

In an ambitious move, a Californian utility plans to create a massive, distributed “powerplant” by installing a total of 2 square miles of solar cells on the roofs of businesses. Southern California Edison plans to install 250 megawatts’ worth of solar power, generating enough electricity to power 162,000 homes.

Green Wombat reports:

It’s a potentially game-changing move, one that could lower the cost of solar cells as manufacturers ramp up production to meet the utility’s schedule of installing a megawatt-a-week of arrays until it reaches the 250-megawatt target. That alone is more than United States’ entire production of solar cells in 2006 and will generate as much electricity as a small coal-fired power plant, albeit with no greenhouse gas emissions.

The $875 million initiative also marks the first big foray into so-called distributed energy by a major utility. Instead of building a centralized power station and the expensive transmission system needed to transmit electricity to the power grid, Edison will connect clusters of solar arrays into existing neighborhood circuits. A significant hurdle for the massive megawatt solar power plants planned for California’s Mojave Desert is the need in some cases to build multi billion-dollar transmission systems through environmentally sensitive lands to bring the electricity to coastal metropolises.

The initiative will work like this: Edison will lease the warehouse rooftop space from building owners in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The utility will outsource the installation, and retain ownership of the solar cells.

This plan will be exciting if it is achieved, and it will become a model for other utilities to follow.

Via: Green Wombat

Hewlett-Packard has announced it will install a 1-megawatt solar array in its San Diego facility. The installation will be made up of 5,000 panels on seven buildings. It’s a large solar array, but smaller than Google’s 1.6-megawatt solar array, which is thought to be the largest corporate installation to date in the United States.

SunPower will install its solar panels and sell the electricity the panels generate to HP at fixed rates under a power purchase agreement. The system will save HP $750,000 over 15 years and offset 1 million pounds of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent of taking 100 cars off the road each year.

^{A similar corporate solar rooftop installation}

As part of the deal, HP employees are eligible for a $2,000 rebate for purchasing solar electric panels from SunPower, an amount that HP will match.

In Ireland, HP has contracted with wind developer Airtricity to purchase 80 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity in 2008. That arrangement will reduce HP’s energy costs by $40,000 next year and eliminate the release of 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide, it said.

HP is considered a leader in environmental awareness and corporate social responsibility. Last year, it bought 11 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy to fuel its operations.

Via: News.Com