Industry News

Vitamin Company Facility Features Nevada's Largest Solar Power Installation

A new YourVitamins building in Henderson, Nev., will create Nevada's largest solar power installation. The vitamin company's $10 million building expansion includes a new three-story, 87,000-square-foot addition, which will be powered by a rooftop photovoltaic energy system. Scheduled to open February 1, the addition will increase the company's existing manufacturing plant to 180,000 square feet.

Installed by Las Vegas Solar Electric, the $2 million PV system involves placing on the 21,450-square-foot rooftop 1,433 solar panels that produce 1-megawatt hour per day over the course of a year. The 214.5-kilowatt system will generate enough daily electricity to power as many as 25 homes. In addition, the system is anticipated to save approximately $120,000 annually in energy costs.

2004 Toyota Prius Named 2004 North America Car of the Year

The 2004 Prius was selected as the 2004 North American Car of the Year by a group of 49 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada. The award honors vehicles that establish new benchmarks in areas including design, innovation, safety and handling.

The winners were announced January 4 at a news conference at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The jurors considered 17 cars. The three car finalists were the Toyota Prius, Mazda RX-8 and Cadillac XLR. The Prius received 298 points, compared to 167 for the RX-8 and 113 for the XLR.

First Large-Scale PV System Installed in California's Central Valley

RWE SCHOTT Solar, Inc. (RSS), a manufacturer and distributor of solar modules and systems, recently announced that its customer, the Empire Union School District, is the first district in California to receive a Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) rebate for a photovoltaic (PV) power generation system. In addition to being the California Central Valley's first large-scale PV installation, this is the first system to connect into and credit power back to the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) municipal utility. The 45kW system is installed at the Norman Glick Middle School in Modesto, Calif.

Modesto averages 162 days of sunshine and only 12.25 inches of rain per year, making it an ideal location for the use of solar electric systems. The Norman Glick Middle School PV system takes advantage of the sunny weather, producing power year-round. The school is able to bank the power it generates on weekends, as well as during the summer months when the school is closed.

PG&E's self-generation incentive program provides financial incentives to PG&E customers who install certain kinds and sizes of "clean" on-site distributed power generation. In this case, the installation consists of a 15kW system on the roof of one building and a 30kW system on a purpose-built shade structure. With the system now authorized to operate in parallel with the electric grid and confirmed to meet other criteria established by the California Public Utilities Commission, a rebate incentive check for $172,647 is expected to be issued in January.

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