Vatican Installs Large PV Solar System

The smallest country in the world is going green!!! A new PV(photo voltaic) solar system containing 2,400 panels was installed on one of the state's main buildings “Nervi Hall”. The system will generate approximately 300 kilowatt hours of clean energy a year.


This system will help the Vatican cut is Carbon Dioxide emission by about 225 tonnes a year, saving the equivalent of 80 tonnes of oil annually.

This isn't the first time the Vatican tried to become a carbon neutral state. Last year trees were planted in a national park in Hungry to offset its carbon-dioxide emissions.

Source: Telegragh
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New Wind Power Record in Spain

At 5 A.M. on November 24th, wind power provided by spanish wind farms reached 9,253 megawatts out of a total demand of 21,264 megawatts. This accounts to around 43% of the total power demand at that time. This was caused by the heavy winds and rain that hit Spain at that time.

The previous record of 40.8 percent was set in March, also during a stormy day.

Wind power generated a maximum of 10,263 megawatts in Spain shortly after noon on Monday, compared to the production record of 10,880 megawatts set in April.

Source: AFP and TreeHugger
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Graves Producing Power !!

Santa Coloma de Gramenet, a small city near Barcelona, Spain, is using space atop mausoleums to generate solar power. The system has 462 PV panels and its output power is supplied to the local energy grid. This output can serve the annual energy demand of 60 homes.

Santa Coloma has a population of 124,000 living in four square kilometers (1.5 square miles) making the cemetery the only open space capable of generating solar energy.

The system's installation cost was 720,000 euros ($900,000) and it'll keep about 62 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere annually.


The town hopes to install more panels to triple the output of the project. The town has 3 other solar systems operating but this one is by far the biggest.

Source: AP
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World’s Largest Thin-Film Solar Roof Comes Online

In Germany the largest thin-film solar roof has just came online. The roof has 11,000 thin-film solar modules from First Solar, with a total capacity of 837 kW, covering the roof of a Riedel Recycling facility in Moers, Germany.

The installation process required just three months despite pitches of 36.55 and 75 degrees and heights of up to 30 meters.

“Thin-film modules are a good choice at our latitudes”, managing director Ludger Riedel continues “because they also deliver good yields despite weaker solar radiation.”

Source: Solar buzz
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Solyndra: New Cylindrical Solar Panels

Solyndra, a 3 year old company, is producing unconventional solar panels. Instead of the old flat panels, Solyndra came up with new cylindrical panels. These panels collect sunlight more efficiently across a broader range of angles and catch light reflected off the roof itself.


To build these solar panels, Solyndra uses thin film solar cells. Thin film solar cells aren't as efficient as silicon cells but they cost less to manufacture. Very small amount of CIGS, copper indium gallium diselenide, is deposited in ultra thin layers along the surface of glass or metal. VP of business development Kelly Truman said that their process uses just a bit more than a micron of copper indium gallium diselenide, or CIGS.

On the roofs of Solyndra's office buildings, the first modules have been installed.
The solar tubes look like reverse fluorescent light bulbs. These tubes are not bolted to the roof because they are less susceptible to wind damage than traditional flat solar panels.

Source: Smart Solutions

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