March 15, 2002—AstroPower, Inc. has announced that its solar electric power products exceeded expectations for annual output in two California solar power plants. AstroPower products enabled the plants to generate a total of 320,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2001. Located in Hopland and Berkeley, CA, the plants are owned and operated under a joint-venture agreement between AstroPower and Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. The plants began operations in 1999 and 2000, respectively.
The Hopland power plant features 132 kilowatts of AstroPower solar electric panels, which are elevated to serve as a series of shade structures totaling 15,000 square feet. The plant is located at the Real Goods Solar Living Center, a non-profit clean energy retail and teaching facility in Hopland.
The 100-kilowatt Berkeley power plant is composed of 39,000 AstroPower solar cells. The plant is located on the roof of a working factory and provides both electricity production and energy efficiency in a photovoltaic rooftile assembly.
Both distributed generation plants operate automatically with no staff needed. The plants, which interconnect at distribution voltage, provide the California utility grid with renewable electricity. All of the electricity produced by the plants is purchased by Green Mountain Energy for distribution to the electric grid under a multi-year power-purchase agreement.
For more information, contact AstroPower.
