JUL 10

General Motors makes cars, but now it also wants to make more energy after announcing plans for the world’s largest rooftop solar power station at its biggest factory in Europe.

The photovoltaic solar power station at GM’s plant near Zaragoza in Spain is going to have an annual output of 15.1 million kWh. That would be enough to meet the demand of 4,600 households with an average annual consumption of 3,300 kWh. The solar power station is going up fast, with expectations to be operational by the end of September 2008. The electricity generated will feed into the local grid of Red Electrica and sell the energy to Endesa.

The massive solar array was designed in a joint venture partnership between the government of Aragon, Veolia Environnement and Clairvoyant. Consisting of 85,000 light-weight solar modules with an active photovoltaic surface area of 183,000 square meters, the power station can reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 7 thousand tons each year.

“Underlining our vital commitment to environmental compatibility, this solar energy project links to GM’s larger advanced technology strategy that supports extended range electric vehicles and the use of alternative energy for propulsion,” says Europe President Carl-Peter Forster.

While this is the third solar power station on the roof of a GM plant, the other two located in California, the Zaragoza location will be the world’s largest. And it won’t be the last. Next up for GM is installing solar panels at its Saint Petersburg, Russia factory.

Via Physorg, GM; Photo via GMEurope

Comments (10)

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written by Kalyan, July 10, 2008

I read somewhere (in ecogeek?) if all the gasoline cars today are to be replaced with electric cars, electricity generation needs to increase 1/6th to meet that demand, that's close to 17%. If Mr. Pickens proposals are feasible and we are able to replace all the gasoline cars with electric cars we actually might be able to achieve oil independence. The goal might sound optimistic, but if there is a demand for fuel efficient cars some auto maker might come with a break through car like toyota prius or better. With electric cars we might have issues with all that lead and nickel used for batteries but once the dollars flow in there might be a research in that area and break throughs. As simple as it may sound, its all about that one break through.

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written by Candy, July 11, 2008

Wow... I can't believe I've ever been glad about a company being all over the world before. Usually it bothers me that world culture is homogenizing, but it's nice to know that one company can affect some positive changes all over the world. Who knows who'll they'll influence in these places by taking that step.

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written by Craig, July 12, 2008

great to see people taking advantage of all that wasted roof space, just imagine if all the factory roof space around the globe was used for PV cells, then we wouldn't need to use up any more land, or build any more power plants - ah what a beautiful dream!

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Why in Russia
written by No I will not give you my bloody name, why would I do that?, July 13, 2008

If I am not mistaken, it would be far better to use wind power in Russa. Isn't itmostly dark there?

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Spain usage?
written by Maffu, July 17, 2008

Are you saying that Spainards use less than 10% of what I do? My home uses about 3000 kWh / month -- not per year! I *do* have a fairly large house and 3 kids, but are we really that different?

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3000 kWh / month ???
written by LT, July 22, 2008

Your electric bills must have 3 digits!
Even for a larger house with 5 people living in it, 3000 kWh a month sounds like really a lot.
Maybe you live in a region where you run airco most of the day? That could make up for some of it.

I have a smaller 1600 sqft house in the Seattle area and I use between 250-300 kWh a month, and luckily electricity is cheap here, only $0.037 for the first 10kWh a day. That gives you an incentive to use less than 300kWh a month, since your electricity bills will stay lower than $15 a month.

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written by Aaron Helwig, July 28, 2008

when you discuss solar energy, you mean regular PV cells right? Why not use infrared solar panels. Even when sunlight is not coming through the clouds, infrared light is.

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Pave the Way
written by Sustainable Home Design, August 05, 2008

The more large scale companies get involved the faster our current crises can be resolved. Props to GM for helping pave the way!


Charles Precht
Sustainable Design
www.sustainablehomeplans.com

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free sex
written by steve, December 12, 2008

this is whakkkkkkk

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VP
written by Dave, May 04, 2009

This the the conundrum: Take all of the energy now provided by fossil fuels for family transportation and convert that figure to kwatts. Now compare that figure with the total number of kwatts that our grids can now carry. Now add the two numbers together and compare that with the present grid capacity. I believe you will find that the present grid system is no where near being able to carry enough electricity to support homes and businesses and even just familial transportation needs. Energy independence involves many factors, not the least of which is someway to transport energy from where it is produced to where it can be used.

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