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World’s biggest solar power station being built in Spain

The largest rooftop solar power station in the world is being built in Spain. With a capacity of 12 megawatts of power, the station is made up of 85,000 lightweight panels covering an area of 18.5 hectares.

Manufactured in rolls, rather like carpet, the photovoltaic panels are to be installed on the roof of a General Motors car factory in Zaragoza, eastern Spain.

General Motors, which plans to install solar panels at another 11 plants across Europe, unveiled the 50 million euro (US$78.4 million) project on Tuesday. The power station should be producing energy by September.

The panels will produce an annual output of 15.1m kilowatt hours (kWh) — enough to meet the needs of 4,600 households with an average consumption of 3,300kWh, or power a third of the GM factory. The solar energy produced should cut carbon dioxide emissions by 6,700 tonnes a year.

Energy Conversion Devices, the US company producing the panels, said it would be the largest rooftop solar array in the world. Energy Conversion will supply the equipment to two other companies, Veolia Environment and Clairvoyant Energy, which will lease the rooftop space from General Motors and operate the installation. The rooftop power station is also supported by the regional Aragon government.

Carl-Peter Forster, GM Europe president, said: “GM’s Zaragoza plant will become home of the biggest rooftop solar power station worldwide. This has significant potential to reduce costs at the plant.”

Solar panels on houses usually produce a few kilowatts of power. On large commercial buildings, installations of one or two megawatts are now common. A one-megawatt installation could run about 1,000 air-conditioners while the sun is shining.

The Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group based in Washington, said the largest installation planned in the US was in Atlantic City, where a convention center will produce 2.36mW of power. Another US solar panels company, Southern California Edison, is to install 250mW of rooftop solar arrays spread over 100 or more roofs.

Blessed with almost year-round sunshine, Spain’s socialist government is trying to capitalize on this natural resource. In an effort to encourage private individuals and companies to install solar power, Spain introduced subsidies of 0.42 euro per kilowatt per hour.

But the Spanish government is considering reducing this subsidy in September, a move that is likely to face opposition from within the solar energy industry.
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