Industry News

Cemusa to Install Solar-Powered Bus Shelters in Miami

Cemusa will install 3,000 new solar-powered, hurricane-strength bus shelters on bus routes throughout Miami-Dade County, Florida. Cemusa is paying for the project in return for its right to display and maintain advertisements on the bus shelters.

The project will result in 1.9 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels installed across Dade County. Under a contract from Dade County, Cemusa will rent the advertising space at the bus stands and be responsible for the installation, maintenance of the facilities and handling of the advertising.

BP Solar will supply the solar photovoltaic panels, which will power four 32-watt fluorescent lights at each shelter. Options for the bus shelter designs include the use of five BP Solar 3160, 160-watt modules horizontally positioned on the roof of the structures. The project is estimated to cost approximately $9.5 million.

PowerLight Installs Solar System for St. Francis Winery

St. Francis Winery has commissioned the installation of a 457-kilowatt solar electrical system for its winery in Santa Rosa, Calif. At nearly 500 kilowatts, St. Francis' new solar array is one of the largest solar installations in the Wine Country —and in the nation. Furnished by PowerLight Corporation of Berkeley, Calif., the solar system will produce the equivalent electricity during the daytime to power over 450 homes and generate over 30 percent of the winery's annual required energy. The installation will be completed in May 2004.

St. Francis Winery is also conducting energy efficient lighting upgrades at the winery. PowerLight will furnish custom-designed hi-bay lighting for both the refrigerated barrel storage and winemaking operations area. The new lighting will reduce the lighting electric demand by 48 percent and generate less heat to help maintain a cool temperature for wine storage. In addition, the high efficiency lighting more closely matches natural lighting, increasing visual acuity while presenting a more comfortable work environment.

Whole Foods Market is First Northeast Regional Grocer to Install Solar Panels

Texas-based Whole Foods Market, Inc., the world's largest organic and natural foods supermarket, has become the first major food retailer in the northeastern U.S. to introduce solar energy as a power source in its Edgewater, N.J., store by installing solar panels made by BP Solar on the store's roof.

"As a company committed to helping preserve our planet's natural resources, natural solar power made sense both from an economic and an environmental standpoint," said David Lannon, Whole Foods Market, northeast region president. "We plan to continue to investigate opportunities to install solar power in other northeast region stores."

Whole Foods Market, BP Solar and SunEdison worked together to create a 120-kilowatt solar electric system to power the Edgewater store. The system will meet more than 20 percent of the Edgewater store's needs. The solar array is composed of BP Solar panels covering 14,000 square feet on the store's roof. These solar panels are electrically interconnected to Xantrex PV GTI series inverters, which feed high quality AC power to the store's existing electrical system and the utility grid at large.

SANYO Commissions 200kW Solar Installation at its U.S. Headquarters

SANYO North America has commissioned two new solar installations that will generate 200kW of clean, electrical power. The two solar arrays, a 150kW PowerLight PowerGuard system atop the roof of SANYO's San Diego, Calif.-based U.S. headquarters and a 50 kW PowerLight PowerTracker on the adjacent carport structure, will generate enough electricity during the daytime to power over 200 homes.

The solar electric systems were furnished by PowerLight using SANYO's high-efficiency frameless HIT-190 solar modules and will be completed by spring 2004. The two new solar arrays contain 1,056 solar panels. SANYO's HIT-190 solar cell features an energy conversion rate of 18.5 percent, the highest rate for mass-produced cells currently available. The proprietary solar cell is a hybrid of technologies that produces an optimal yield-to-area ratio.

Shell Solar and GEOSEL to Build World's Largest Solar Power Station

Shell Solar and Gesellschaft für Solarenergie (GEOSOL) have announced their intent to build south of Leipzig, Germany, the largest solar power station in the world. GEOSOL is the initiator and project developer while Shell Solar is the prime construction contractor.

The solar power station will be built on a former lignite mine ash deposit near Espenhain, Germany. The freestanding array will comprise some 33,500 solar modules with a total output of 5 megawatts. The solar power station is due on stream in July 2004. The power will be sufficient to meet the electricity demand of about 1,800 households. The solar power station will save some 3,700 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Shell Solar will be using high-performance photovoltaic modules of the new Shell SQ series in large-scale industrial production for the first time in the Epsenhain project. These solar modules are capable of handling high voltage and deliver the highest energy yields. Siemens AG is supplying the inverters, the transformers and the medium-voltage connection equipment.

PacificCorp Issues RFP for Renewable Energy Resources in Western U.S.

PacifiCorp, a utility serving six Western states, recently announced that it is seeking to add up to 1,100 megawatts of new renewable energy resources in the next seven years. The company has received final regulatory approval to issue its request for proposals (RFP). This is one of the largest such requests for renewables ever released by an investor-owned utility in the U.S. In Oregon, Washington and northern California, PacifiCorp's RFP seeks 100 megawatts (MW) by 2005, 200 MW by 2007 and an additional 200 MW by 2009. In Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, PacifiCorp wants to acquire 200 MW in each of 2006, 2008 and 2010.

In the next 10 years, PacifiCorp's IRP calls for bringing up to 1,400 MW of renewable generation into PacifiCorp's resource portfolio. Projected load growth indicates a need for about 4,000 additional MW of capacity between 2004 and 2013. This growth includes additional energy needs of current customers, requirements for new customers and potential increased requirements for supply reserves.

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