Life Alternate » First Solar

China Bathes in Solar Energy

Wispa — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:18:27 +0000

China being “quite a large country” has the advantage of that over two thirds of this area can be utilized for solar energy production with around 2000 hours of sunshine every year. This has not gone unnoticed and both domestic and overseas developments are taking place and some on quite a large scale.

sunset china

Applied Materials , a US based company, are the latest in a long line of overseas corporations setting up bases in China. With the establishment of a solar power technology centre in Xi’an, Shaanxi Provence, Applied Materials aim to boost the research and development of thin film solar technology and crystal solar panels along with the training of engineers in the solar power field.

As one of the largest suppliers to the semiconductor industry, Applied Materials hopes to further increase its share of the solar power energy market.

First Solar has been given the go-ahead to build a solar energy production site in Ordos, Inner Mongolia by the Chinese government. The projects is estimated to take 10 years to build and will have a capacity of 2,000 MW of solar produced electricity. This would be the equivalent output of 2 or 4 coal power stations and without the environmental hazards such as CO2 pollution and hazards of coal mining.

Along with solar energy, China is also embracing wind technology. A 20 megawatt wind development is planned in Gansu Provence. It is hoped that the first stage will be online by the end of 2010 with a capacity of 5 megawatt of wind energy being produced.

Away from the large scale production, Beijing has set up the “Sunshine School Project”. The aim here is to build 100 energy efficient schools. Starting with solar powered lighting and displays. The project develops further with the utilization of solar energy for hot water and heating. These smaller scale energy saving projects will demonstrate that solar energy can be utilized for more remote areas to being some comforts to villages without the need for massive electrical production. This and the education of the school children of environmentally friendly products should produce the a next generation of Chinese more aware of the hazards of using non renewable energy.

With China is still a large polluter with a large number of coal power stations. It does seem that the country is embracing renewable energies without taking the easy way out and relying totally on coal power.

First Solar|China 2 Gigawatt Solar Plant

Wispa — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:18:26 +0000

US-Based, First Solar and the Chinese government have proposed a massive 2 Gigawatt photovoltaic solar panel plant making this the biggest project of its type.

The planned solar power plant will be huge, ultimately covering an area of 25 square miles. The power output will be enough to power around three million homes when completed and will have the generating capacity of two large coal power station but without all the nasty pollution and dangers associated with mining coal.

The solar power station will be built north of Beijing in the outer Mongolian desert with panels produce in China by a newly build First Solar plant.

China has taken steps to aggressively promote solar energy along with other renewable as sources of electricity. A single plant on this scale would cost around US$6 billion if it were build in the USA, With reduced labour costs in China along with the governments feed in tariffs the final cost will be much lower.

Solar Array

Completion of the solar plant is expected in 2019 with phases of the plant coming online as they are completed. The first phase is expected to be a 30 Megawatt demonstration project early in 2010. This will be followed by a second facility capable of producing 100 Megawatt of clean energy.

China is ideally placed to take advantage of solar energy, with large tracts of land unsuitable for agriculture. Along with large scale solar energy, China has implemented a policy of increasing the amount of electrical production by renewable energy and it seems to have started on a large scale.

First Solar EDF Energies Nouvells Panels For France

Wispa — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:21:19 +0000

First solar and EDF Energies Nouvells have recently announce a venture to build the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in France. The plant would have an initial annual capacity of 100 megawatts of production building panels with First Solar`s thin-film photovoltaic technology.

The Plant being built in France at a cost of 90 million Euros will help the French governments goal of becoming a world leader in sustainable energy technologies. Under the venture, EDF Energies will finance half of the expenditure and will benefit from the entire production capacity for the first 10 years of operation. First solar will build and operate the plant.

Solar Array

EDF Energies has raided 500 million Euros finance for its expansion in to the solar energy sector and has plans to install 500 Megawatt of photovoltaic solar generation capacity by the year 2012.

The French government has upped its cause for renewable energies and with increased promotion of solar technologies as alternate power sources the economy should benefit with the introduction of jobs in the production and installation of solar panels.

The Plant expected to be in production by 2011 should bring around 300 new jobs to the area and will include France`s first solar panel recycling facility.