The UK glass group Pilkington has announced that a German-based group company, Pilkington Solar International, is to build the solar modules for what is believed to be the world“s largest solar roof …
The UK glass group Pilkington has announced that a German-based group company, Pilkington Solar International, is to build the solar modules for what is believed to be the world“s largest solar roof installation. The UK 6 million contract is for a 9,500 sq. m. photovoltaic installation on the roof of a new training academy to be built in Herne for the Interior Ministry of Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany. The 1.0 megawatt photovoltaic roof system on the roof of the academy will supply up to 900,000 kilowatt hours of solar produced electricity a year, more than twice the power consumption required for the building, with the excess going into the national grid. Finance for the project is being provided by the provincial government and the Herne City power station. Pilkington Solar recently completed a 2,000 sq. m. photovoltaic installation on the roof of a building in the Science Park in Gelsenkirchen, the Ruhr town where the Pilkington Solar factory is based. In the new academy building, the photovoltaic elements are an integral part of an envelope-like glass roof with the modules at differing angles to obtain maximum light transmission during daylight hours. To avoid overheating in the summer, the roof and facade elements of the solar array can be opened. Pilkington Solar, headquartered in Cologne, is boosting its production facilities as developers incorporate more photovoltaic panels in roofs and facades to generate electricity and make buildings more self-sufficient.