Three Solar Stories | Green Energy News

January 20, 2002 – Vol.6 No.43

THREE SOLAR STORIES.

Shell Solar and Siemens Solar have, in essence, combined. Shell Renewables has announced it will purchase all of the shares held by its partners Siemens AG and E.ON Energie AG in their joint venture solar photovoltaic company Siemens und Shell Solar Gmbh - commonly known as Siemens Solar. The new company will be fully owned by Shell and use the Shell Solar name.

The new Shell Solar will have about 1100 employees worldwide and a world market share of annual photovoltaic cell sales of 15 percent. Visit Siemens Solar at http://www.siemenssolar.com/ , Shell Renewables at http://www.shell.com/renewables/ .

PowerLight has added a 250 kilowatt sun-tracking solar system to the Mauna Lani Resort in Hawaii. The new PowerTracker system brings the resort’s solar capacity to nearly 500 kilowatts. The other 250 kilowatts capacity, also supplied by PowerLight, are rooftop systems and those atop a fleet of golf-carts used to assist battery recharging.

The new three-acre tracking array has 24 rows of panels with 10.5 kilowatts capacity per row. The tracking array captures 30 percent more sunlight than fixed arrays. A computer system monitors power output from the array as well as tracking parameters. Changes to parameters can be made remotely. The array provides most of the power for the resort’s daytime water pumping needs. Visit PowerLight at http://www.powerlight.com/ .

AstroPower has added 13.2 kilowatt solar arrays to two self-sufficient business complexes in the U.K. Each 3228 square foot building will have a roof mounted system that will supply the majority of the buildings electricity needs.

The buildings also make use of passive solar heating and natural ventilation. Visit AstroPower at http://www.astropower.com/ .