Toyota and SunPower Corporation, a leading solar panel manufacturer, have announced the completion of the largest single-roof solar panel installation in North America.
Due to commence operation in October this year, the 2.3-megawatt SunPower system will generate clean electricity for Toyota’s North America Parts Center in California. The solar array will provide nearly 60 percent of the total electricity needs for the factory and covers more than 22 482 square meters of roof space, which is the equivalent of 4 soccer fields.
The array, consisting of over 10,400 Sunpower monocrystalline solar modules, is expected to generate enough electricity to offset around 2,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, equivalent to the emissions from the energy use of approximately 255 homes in a year and with an expected serviceable life span of over 25 years, will substantially reduce the electricity costs over the long term at the plant.
Utilizing next generation all back-contact solar cells, reduced voltage-temperature coefficient, exceptional low-light performance attributes and an optimized panel design, the SunPower solar panels deliver a very impressive efficiency of 18.5%, which is 50% more power per unit area than conventional solar panels and 100% more than thin film solar panels.
The world’s largest rooftop solar power station, with a capacity of 10 megawatts, is in the final stages of construction at General Motors Zaragoza plant in Spain and is due to commence operations at the end of this month.
GM’s massive solar array will consist of 85,000 Uni-solar panels covering a surface area of 183,000 square meters. It provide for an annual reduction in CO2-emissions of 6.7 thousand tons. The GM installation will generate 15.1 million kWh annually, sufficient to meet the demand of 4.600 households
